Perth Glory’s rocky start to the season hit another bump on Saturday night when they were out gunned by an excellent Melbourne Victory side at Telstra Dome.
Perth Glory-s rocky start to the season hit another bump on Saturday night when they were out gunned by an excellent Melbourne Victory side at Telstra Dome.
The league leaders looked in top touch while Perth was punished again for some slip ups at the back. The loss leaves Glory with four points from seven rounds and with some catching-up to do.
“We-ve got to pick ourselves us and get some confidence back in the team,” Coach Dave Mitchell said following the match.
“As a club and as a team we all take responsibility, we can do better.
“We-ll keep working hard and searching for that formula that can win us games. It has proved to be elusive so far this season but it-s not mission impossible,” Mitchell said.
Glory utility Jamie Harnwell worked tirelessly in central defence against a formidable Victory attack and said the players are desperate to turn the club-s fortunes around.
“The players are hurting, there is no doubt about that,” Harnwell said.
“I think every player has to take a long hard look at themselves and see whether they-re giving the best they can out on the pitch during games and at training.
“We-re out there, we-re putting in the performances, we have to look at ourselves and take the responsibility,” he said.
Glory-s leading scorer Eugene Dadi played a lone hand for the majority of the night as Perth went into the match with a more defensive set-up and for the opening 25 minutes it held firm against one of the leagues most potent attacks.
Victory strikers Danny Allsopp and Archie Thompson were well contained however with the home side boasting a plethora of scoring options their account was opened by Scottish import Grant Brebner when he latched onto a lacklustre clearance to fire in from close range.
The lead was doubled some 15 minutes later through Allsopp who was initially denied by an excellent reflex save by Glory custodian Frank Juric however the rebound went straight back to the big striker and his second attempt found the target.
Conceding a goal just after the restart made Glory-s task even tougher and when Allsopp, who looked clearly off-side, scored again in the 71st minute the match was well out of reach.
Perth weren-t without their changes, a well worked move in the opening minutes saw skipper Jamie Coyne fire in a cross to the waiting Dadi and Naum Sekulovski. The latter getting his header on target, forcing a diving save from Mitch Langerak in the Victory goal.
Dadi was involved again in Perth-s other great chance of the opening half when he headed down to Wayne Srhoj on the edge of the box however the midfielder-s stinging shot went just wide of the upright.
There were a couple of other chances in the second half, most notably to Nikita Rukavytsya who linked up with fellow youngster Jimmy Downey to get into the box and fire on goal only to have his effort parried over the bar.
The resultant corner fell to substitute Nicky Rizzo, who looked lively upon his injection into the game, but his half volley was just a touch too high.
“We started well, we created a couple of chances but didn-t capitalise on them and then we conceded which compounds the problem,” said Mitchell.
“Melbourne with their tails up at home is an uphill battle because they-re a very good side with quality all over the park.
“I have faith we can reverse our current situation, we just need to dig deep, get some confidence back and that will help us get another win on the board,” Mitchell said.
Perth-s next assignment will be against Sydney at Members Equity Stadium on Sunday 19 October and the club will use the upcoming FIFA match break to ensure they-re revitalised for a crucial string of games at home.
“If you-re going to catch the teams above you then you-ve got win your home games, that is our immediate focus and we-ll look forward to taking on Sydney in a fortnight,” Mitchell said.
Melbourne Victory 4 (Brebner 25-, Allsopp 40-/71-, Vargas 47-)
Perth Glory 0
Saturday 4 October 2008 at Telstra Dome
Referee: Strebre Delovski
Crowd: 18,036
Melbourne Victory: 20.Mitchell LANGERAK (gk), 2.Kevin MUSCAT (Captain), 7.Matthew KEMP, 8.Grant BREBNER (18. Leigh BROXHAM 87-), 9.Danny ALLSOPP, 10.Archie THOMPSON, 12.Rodrigo VARGAS, 14.Billy CELESKI, 15.Tom PONDELJAK (22.Nick WARD 76-), 17.Jose Luis LOPEZ, 19.Evan BERGER
Unused Subs: 4.Steven PACE, 40.Lou ACEVSKI (gk)
Yellow Cards: nil
Red Cards: nil
Perth Glory: 20.Frank JURIC (gk), 2.Nikolai TOPOR-STANLEY, 4.Jamie COYNE (Captain), 5.Jamie HARNWELL, 11.Scott BULLOCH, 14.Eugene DADI, 16.Adriano PELLEGRINO, 19.Naum SEKULOVSKI (17.James DOWNEY 51-), 22.Wayne SRHOJ (13.Nikita RUKAVYTSYA 61-), 26.Jeff BRIGHT, 27.Stuart McLAREN (7.Nick RIZZO 72-)
Unused Subs: 30.Tando VELAPHI (gk)
Yellow Cards: Jamie Harnwell 17-, Adriano Pellegrino 73-
Red Cards:
