Goals from Scott Wootton and Tim Payne either side of half-time consigned Glory to a 2-0 defeat against Wellington Phoenix in Saturday’s Distance Derby clash at HBF Park.
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The home side had looked the more likely throughout the first half and yet still went into the break trailing after Wootton nodded in Hideki Ishige’s free-kick.
And four minutes into the second half, their task became an even more arduous one as Kazuki Nagasawa got away down the left and his cross was headed home emphatically by Tim Payne.
Backed by a vocal home crowd, Glory battled valiantly to force their way back into the contest as the second half wore on, but were unable to do so as a header from Nicholas Pennington flashed centimetres wide of the post and both Taras Gomulka and Khoa Ngo fired over late on.
The 53rd meeting between the two sides began with Glory in the ascendancy as Adam Taggart headed a Gomulka corner narrowly over the bar and followed that up by sending in a low shot which was pushed around the post by a scrambling Joshua Oluwayemi.
It felt as if a goal was coming for the hosts as half-time approached and yet it was Phoenix who managed to claim it, with Wootton climbing highest to nod Ishige’s pinpoint free-kick past Oli Sail.
And it was another header which doubled the visitors’ lead shortly after the restart, this time Payne finding the net after Nagasawa had led a rapid counter-attack down the left flank.
Jarrod Carluccio almost halved the arrears immediately with a cross-shot which Oluwayemi did well to block at the near post and Glory went agonisingly close once again moments later as David Williams crossed for fellow-substitute Pennington whose header flew just wide.
With Phoenix content to sit deep and defend their hard-earned lead, Glory continued to search for a way through, but although Ngo and Gomulka both went close in the latter stages, they were ultimately unable to do so.
Match Details
Isuzu UTE A-League 2024/25 Season Round 2
Perth Glory 0 Wellington Phoenix 2 (Wootton 39′, Payne 49′)
Half-time: 0-1
HBF Park
Attendance: 7074
Saturday 26 October 2024
Referee: Lachlan Keevers
Perth Glory: 1.Oli SAIL (gk), 3.Anas HAMZAOUI (15.Zach LISOLAJSKI, 86′), 5.Lachie BARR, 6.Brandon O’NEILL (14.Nathanael BLAIR 72′), 11.Hiroaki AOYAMA (26.Khoa NGO 46′), 12.Taras GOMULKA, 16.Adam BUGARIJA (7.Nicholas PENNINGTON 46′), 17.Jarrod CARLUCCIO, 21.Abdul FAISAL (9.David WILLIAMS 46′), 22.Adam TAGGART (c), 33.Luis CANGA
Substitutes not used: 13.Cameron COOK (gk), 24.Andriano LEBIB
Yellow Cards: Carluccio, Hamzaoui
Red Cards: None
Wellington Phoenix: 1. Josh OLUWAYEMI (gk), 4. Scott WOOTTON, 5. Fin ROA CONCHIE (12. Mo AL-TAAY, 65′), 6. Tim PAYNE, 7. Kosta BARBAROUSES (3. Corban PIPER 88′), 9. Hideki ISHIGE (41. Nathan WALKER 65′), 14. Alex RUFER (c), 15. Isaac HUGHES, 19. Sam SUTTON (11. Stefan COLAKOVSKI 75′), 25. Kazuki NAGASAWA (24. Oskar VAN HATTUM 65′), 27. Matt SHERIDAN
Substitutes not used: 30. Alby KELLY-HEALD (gk), 36. Xuan LOKE
Yellow Cards: Sutton, van Hattum
Red Cards: None
#ONEGlory
