PGFC Academy’s First Team suffered their first defeat of the NPL WA season as Daryl Nicol’s late penalty earned ECU Joondalup a hard-fought, 2-1 win at Ashfield Arena.
Gordon Smith gave the visitors the lead at the break, before substitute Yacoub Mustafa levelled midway through the second half. But Glory defender Ollie Annis was sent off on 79 minutes after pulling back Nicol in the box and the Scottish striker won it for the Jacks by converting the resulting spot-kick.
Both sides went into the game unbeaten and it was a lively opening.
Firstly, Walter Scott picked out Jake Brimmer, whose curling effort went wide of the post for the home side, while at the other end, Jon Higgins’ free kick was saved by Jackson Lee.
As the half wore on, the visitors started to get on top, using the wind to their advantage and former Glory winger Tommy Amphlett was sent clear on 20 minutes, only to drag his shot wide.
Helped by the breeze, Higgins’ inswinging corners were causing havoc in the Glory defence and on 26 minutes his third one beat everyone but drifted just wide of the back post.
Four minutes later, however, ECU hit the front. A long throw by Adam Tong was flicked on by Shane Cassidy and Smith ghosted in to finish at the back post.
It was a different story early in the second half, as Glory swiftly gained the ascendancy and Joe Knowles, Scott and Daniel Stynes all flashed shots over the top.
But John Gibson’s men weren’t to be denied on 67 minutes, second-half substitutes Henry Hore and Mustafa combining on the left before the latter cut inside his marker and drilled a low shot past ECU ‘keeper Johnny Perkins and into the net via the post.
It looked like Glory would go on and win it and yet totally against the run of play, ECU regained the lead.
Nicol raced clear, was held back by Annis and referee Joshua Nixon pointed to the spot before booking the Glory defender.
Annis’ continued protests saw him receive his marching orders before Nicol calmly sent Jackson the wrong way.
Mustafa went close to securing a share of the spoils for the hosts right at the death, but just failed to keep his shot down and after the final whistle, Gibson claimed that his young side had been taught a harsh lesson.
“We’ve got done on two set-pieces today, which was disappointing,” he said.
“But they set up in a certain way and we fell into a few traps, in the first half. We changed a few things at half time and provided a few solutions and I thought our second half was good, but we now move on and look forward to next week against Floreat.”
There was better news for the Under-18s who ran out 2-1 winners, while a late Michael Domfeh penalty earned a 3-3 draw for the Under-20s.
All three sides are in action at Floreat next Saturday, with the Under-18s starting at 1pm, the Under-20s at 3pm and the First team at 5pm.
Match Details
Perth Glory 1 (Mustafa 67′) ECU Joondalup 2 (Smith 30′, Nicol 80’ pen)
Ashfield Arena
Referee: Joshua Nixon
Assistants: Walter Ciotti and Harry Bolan
Perth Glory: GK Jackson LEE, 2 Luca BODNAR, 3 Walter SCOTT, 4 Riley WARLAND, 5 Ollie ANNIS, 6 Callum TIMMINS, 7 Chok DAU (13 Yacoub MUSTAFA 56’), 8 Brandon WILSON, 9 Joe KNOWLES, 10 Jake BRIMMER (15 Henry HORE 46’), 11 Daniel STYNES
Substitutes not used: RGK Nicolas SPECA, 12 Jack LEECH, 14 Sam RIAK,
Yellow cards: Knowles 57’, Annis 79’, 79’
Red cards: Annis 79
ECU Joondalup: GK Johnny PERKINS, 3 Ross MILLARD (7 Cameron MURRAY 74’), 4 Shane CASSIDY, 5 Adam TONG, 8 Josh WHITMORE, 9 Daryl NICOL (c), 10 Gordon SMITH, 11 Andy HIGGINS, 13 Tommy AMPHLETT (6 Lukas DE LIMA 57’), 18 Declan HUGHES, 19 Cian HIRRELL,
Substitutes not used: RGK Jack NUNN, 12 Ryan MCDARBY, 15 Jack JONES
Yellow cards: Hirrell 50’, Tong 52’, Murray 74’, De Lima 92’
Red cards: Nil
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