Was it the greatest Glory game of the A-League era?
Probably.
Will everyone who was at HBF Park that night always remember it?
Definitely.
The Semi-Final clash with Adelaide United on May 10th 2019 was, in every sense, a true classic.
Watch the highlights HERE.
120 minutes of pulsating, utterly absorbing ebb and flow followed by a penalty shootout which took the drama and tension to new, almost unbearable, heights.
2-0 up with just 16 minutes left courtesy of a brace from Diego Castro, Glory looked to be cruising into a first Grand Final since 2012.
But Baba Diawara set the nerves jangling among the home faithful by halving the arrears in the 81st minute and as the clock ticked into injury time, the Reds struck again through Ryan Kitto.
The pendulum swung back Glory’s way in extra-time when Scott Neville scored one of trademark rare but vital goals, only for another defender, Michael Marrone, to respond for the visitors and ensure that a shootout would be required to separate the sides.
And what a shootout it proved to be.
With Adelaide taking their penalties first, Craig Goodwin and Jordan Elsey scored either side of Juande slotting for Glory, before Castro, of all people, missed.
Vince Lia duly made no mistake for the Reds and at 3-1 down, Tony Popovic’s men appeared to have well and truly blown it.
But cometh the hour, cometh Liam Reddy.
Presumably he’d slipped a cape on under his jersey at some point because the vastly-experienced was about to perform a very passable impression of Superman.
After Brendon Santalab had kept Glory alive by doing what he would fail to do at Optus Stadium a week later, Reddy saved Isaiais’ effort low to his right.
He then showed his outfield colleagues exactly how to convert from the spot by hammering an emphatic strike past Paul Izzo, before resuming his goalkeeping duties.
Ben Halloran and Jake Brimmer exchanged successful strikes to lock it up at 4-4, at which point Reddy decided it was time to up the ante.
Diving to his right once again, he foiled Diawara, only for Jason Davidson to fail to take advantage as Izzo produced a carbon-copy of the save his opposite number had pulled off moments earlier.
Next up was Nikola Mileusnic and this this time Reddy went to his left to make the block, before Izzo returned serve by keeping out Shane Lowry’s effort.
Something had to give and finally, dramatically, it did, with Reddy again proving unbeatable as he parried Nathan Konstandopoulos’ shot.
And so it was left to Joel Chianese to step up knowing that if he found the net, the purple army would be descending upon Optus Stadium the following weekend.
The former Sydney FC man took his time placing the ball and flattening out the ground adjacent to the spot, paced five steps back, strode purposefully back up and nervelessly sent Izzo the wrong way.
Cue absolute mayhem as some of the wildest celebrations HBF Park has ever seen brought the curtain down on a glory night for the ages.
#ONEGlory
