A goal in the second minute of stoppage time from Dejan Spaseski has given Perth Glory Youth a hard fought 2-1 win against the FFA Centre of Excellence in Canberra on Wednesday.
Borbor Sam gave Glory the lead on the half hour, before Henry Davies levelled for the home side just before the break.
A red card for FFA Centre of Excellence player Daniel Arzani, after a lunge on Matthew Ntoumenopoulos, turned the game in the Glory’s favour, before Spaseski, came off the bench for his debut and guided Glory home with a dramatic late equaliser,
“I’m really pleased to able to contribute on my debut for the club,” Spaseski said.
“It was a scrappy game but I thought we deserved the points, and it keeps us in touch of Melbourne City 9 current leaders), and we’re really looking forward to Saturday’s clash against Western Sydney Wanderers.”
Glory Coach John Gibson was really happy with his young side.
“We had a number of players out there today who haven’t played at this level before, and I was delighted with the performance,” he said.
“We lost Matthew to a nasty injury, after a poor tackle from their player, and Joe Knowles had a head injury. But the lads never gave up and we pressed and got our rewards late in the game” he said.
“We have been playing well in recent weeks but haven’t had any luck, but I can’t say enough of the players’ effort and attitude, it was first class.” Gibson added.
It was an even opening in the national captial, but it was the visitors who were first on the board in the 29th minute. Sam picked the ball up in the middle of the park and took on three FFA Centre of Excellence defenders, before firing past Duro Dragicevic.
The home side continued to press and it was level just before the break. A corner found its way to Kosta Petratos on the edge of the penalty area. His shot was blocked by some desperate Glory defending, but he laid the rebound off to Cameron Joice, who’s shot crashed off the post. The ball fell kindly to Davies, who fired home from close range, giving Jordan Thurtell no chance.
The match took a twist on 79 minutes when Ntoumenopoulos was carried off with a nasty leg injury, after he was tackled from behind by Arzani, who was shown a straight red card by referee Adrian Arndt.
Spaseski came on to replace him and he would turn out to be the match winner in the last minute. Sam was the provider, his strong run down the flank ended with a cross into the penalty area, where Spaseski lost his marker and volleyed home from 10-yards.
It was an important win after a 1-1 draw with Sydney FC on Sunday.
Glory youth will face Western Sydney Wanderers tomorrow before returning home to face top of the table Melbourne City.
Foxtel National Youth League
FFA Centre of Excellence 1 (Davies 40’)
Perth Glory Youth 2 (Sam 29’, Spaseski 90+2’)
Venue: Australian Institute of Sport, Canberra
Referee: Adrian Arndt
Assistants: Adam Powers and Alex Twomey
Fourth Official: Owen Goldrick
FFA Centre of Excellence: GK Duro DRAGICEVIC, 2 Malcolm WARD, 3 Henry DAVIES, 6 Joe CALETTI (C), 8 Daniel ARZANI, 10 Jamie DIMITROFF, 16 Danny KIM, 17 Nicholas PANETTA, 22 Cameron JOICE, 23 Kosta PETRATOS, 24 Jackson BANDIERA
Subs: RGK Brandon OSIPOV, 5 Zachary SPETH, 14 Soloman-John MONAHAN-VAIIKA, 19 Charlie DEVEREUX
Perth Glory Youth: GK Jordan THURTELL, 2 Ali GHOLAMI 3 Jacob COLLARD (C), 4 Nathan COSTELLO, 5 Riley WOODCOCK, 6 Matthew NTOUMENOPOULOS, 7 Borbor SAM, 8 Calvin WHITNEY, 9 Joe KNOWLES, 10 Todd NORRIS 11 Sam MCKEARNAN,
Subs: RGK Ryan BARKER, 18 Scott ROBERTSON, 15 Dejan SPASESKI, 12 Slobodan VULIN
