A debut goal from Cyera Hintzen and a penalty from Alana Jancevski were not enough to prevent Glory from suffering a first defeat of the Liberty A-League season as they went down 4-2 to Adelaide United at Coopers Stadium.
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In what was an incident-packed encounter, Alex Epakis’ side twice came from behind to draw level and struck the woodwork on two occasions before the Reds bagged a brace of goals in the final 13 minutes to secure the points.
U.S. import Hintzen capped off a sweeping move to cancel out Chelsie Dawber’s opener for the Reds in the 41st minute and although Dawber struck again to send the hosts into the break with a 2-1 lead, Jancevski converted from the spot early in the second half to make it 2-2.
But any hopes of a first Glory win over United since December 2016 faded late on as Matilda McNamara headed home from a corner and the impressive Emily Condon made it 4-2 with a curling free-kick.
Epakis was forthright in his assessment of his side’s performance and is confident that they have plenty of improvement in them.
“We were good enough at times, but but there were times when we weren’t,” he said.
“It was an inconsistent performance
“I believe that not playing competitively for three weeks meant we didn’t have the edge we needed to manage the game from start to finish.
“The times we did play well, I really liked what we did and we were effective in phases.
“We are going to focus on that and eradicate the pressure we put on ourselves with cheap, silly turnovers.
“We know we can better.”
After a cagey opening 20 minutes, the game burst into life when Susan Phonsongkham struck the post for Glory and Hintzen was just unable to force home the rebound.
Adelaide responded by scoring from what was their first meaningful chance of the game, Condon providing the assist and Dawber applying an emphatic finish.
Hintzen soon had Glory level, calmly converting a pinpoint cross from Phonsongkham, only for Dawber to restore Adelaide’s lead with another well-taken effort in first-half stoppage-time.
Although it was United who started the second half on the front foot, it was Glory who found the game’s next goal, Kayla Sharples bundling Gemma Craine over in the box and Jancevski slotting home the resulting spot-kick.
Clearly lifted by that goal, the women in teal seized the initiative and Hintzen came agonisingly close to making it 3-2 with a searing shot which thumped against the crossbar.
At that stage, Glory looked well-placed to end their six-game winless run against the South Australians, but it was not to be.
Instead, McNamara found the net after the Glory defence failed to deal with Fiona Wort’s inswinging corner and four minutes later, Condon sealed the deal for Adrian Senta’s side with a well-executed free-kick.
Match Details
Adelaide United 4 (Dawber 33′, 45+2′, McNamara 77′, Condon 81′) Perth Glory 2 (Hintzen 41′, Jancevski (pen) 53′)
Half-time: 2-1
Referee: Rebecca Mackie
Coopers Stadium
Adelaide United: 1.Annalee GROVE (GK), 2.Emily HODGSON, 3.Matilda MACNAMARA, 4.Kayla SHARPLES, 8.Emily CONDON, 9.Paige HAYWARD, 10.Chelsie DAWBER ( 19.Leia VARLEY 88′), 12.Nanako SASAKI ( 6.Reona OMIYA 88′), 13.Ella TONKIN ( 22.Emilia MURRAY 75′), 16.Dylan HOLMES ( 5.Emma STANBURY 69′), 23.Fiona WORTS
Substitutes not used: 20.Miranda TEMPLEMAN (GK)
Yellow Cards: Sasaki, Worts
Red Cards: None
Perth Glory: 1.Morgan AQUINO (GK), 2.Sarah CARROLL (5.Deborah-Anne DE LA HARPE 46′), 3.Kim CARROLL, 4.Natasha RIGBY (C), 7.Liz ANTON, 8.Hana LOWRY ( 13.Sarah CAIN 63′), 10.Susan PHONSONGKHAM ( 19.Poppie HOOKS 83′), 15.Cyera HINTZEN, 23.Alana JANCEVSKI, 24.Gemma CRAINE (12.Sofia SAKALIS, 73′), 26.Mie LETH JANS
Substitutes not used: 20.Courtney NEWBON (GK)
Yellow Cards: Carroll S., Lowry
Red Cards: None
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