Perth Glory Women coach Jamie Harnwell would have preferred his side to start the way they finished, but couldn’t fault the effort of his players to come from behind and win 3-2 against Newcastle Jets at Percy Doyle Reserve.
Perth Glory Women coach Jamie Harnwell would have preferred his side to start the way they finished, but couldn-t fault the effort of his players to come from behind and win 3-2 against Newcastle Jets at Percy Doyle Reserve.
The Jets took a 2-0 lead inside the first half hour, but a resilient Glory never gave up.
“We wanted to keep a clean sheet and defend well, but we didn-t,” Harnwell said. “I can-t ask the girls to do more to get themselves out of that situation, but we-ve got to do better.
“We-ve still not given up hope on the top four; while it-s still there mathematically, we have to believe that we can make it and try for it.”
Harnwell praised player of the match Elisa D-Ovidio after she was shifted into an unfamiliar role at right-back after performing well there last weekend.
“The way she goes about her football and her commitment and attitude rubs off on all the other girls and it-s really pleasing to see her do well,” he said.
The away side opened the scoring against the flow of the game in the 20th minute when a long ball found its way to Tara Andrews, who beat two defenders and slotted the ball into the bottom corner.
Newcastle doubled their lead eight minutes later when winger Sophie Nenadovic brought the ball inside from the flank and shot early to catch Chantel Jones offguard and find the back of the net.
Glory responded brightly though and within three minutes they had pulled one back.
Newcastle failed to clear their lines after strong pressure from the home side and the ball found its way to D-Ovidio 30 yards out from goal, who lashed a half-volley through a sea of bodies and into the bottom corner of the goal.
Glory grew in confidence and created an abundance of chances that were ruled offside on several occasions.
Rosie Sutton scored Glory-s equaliser with the last kick of the half, slotting the ball cleverly underneath Eliza Campbell after a cross in from Marianna Tabain.
Glory-s fight back was completed when Tabain was found by Sutton on the wing and she finished from the corner of the penalty area across Campbell into the bottom corner with 23 minutes to play.
Perth went about the second half with much more confidence having gone ahead and limited the away side to very few opportunities in the last 20 minutes.
Christina Julien couldn-t quite score the goal she was desperately after in her last match for the Glory, coming close on two occasions in the last 10 minutes, but Campbell was equal to the task on both occasions.
Perth Glory 3 (D-Ovidio 31-, Sutton 45+3, Tabain 67-)
Newcastle Jets 2 (Andrews 20-, Nenadovic 28-)
Saturday January 18, 2014
Percy Doyle Reserve, Sorrento
Local kick-off: 5:00pm
Referee: Kiralee Andrichak
Assistant referees: Jenny Wood, Nico Hoyle, Matthew Southern
Perth Glory squad: 1. Chantel JONES (gk), 3. Cecilie SANDVEJ, 4. Bronwyn STUDMAN, 5. Shannon MAY, 9. Rosie SUTTON, 12. Kate GILL, 13. Elisa D-OVIDIO (18. Amy KNIGHTS 85-), 16. Thia EASTMAN, 17. Marianna TABAIN, 19. Shawn BILLAM (8. Ella MASTRANTONIO 56-), 21. Christina JULIEN (15. Jess DILLON 90-)
Substitutes not used: 28. Gabrielle DAL BUSCO (gk)
Yellow cards: Studman 50-
Red cards: Nil
Newcastle Jets squad: 1. Eliza CAMPBELL (gk), 2. Hannah BREWER, 4. Siahn BOZANIC, 5. Ciara McCORMICK, 7. Gema SIMON, 9. Tara ANDREWS, 10. Rhali DOBSON (17. Lauren BROWN 82-), 12. Hannah BEARD (6. Ashley SPINA 10-), 14. Sophie NENADOVIC, 16. Cassidy DAVIS, 18. Clare WHEELER (23. Stacey DAY 70-)
Substitutes not used: 20. Claire COELHO (gk)
Yellow cards: Nil
Red cards: Nil
