Perth Glory’s hopes of finals football are alive after a stunning 3-2 win over Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park, Melbourne.
Perth Glory-s hopes of finals football are alive after a stunning 3-2 win over Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park, Melbourne.
In one of the games of the season, Josh Risdon scored a phenomenal winning goal in the 94th minute, his first in the Hyundai A-League, to keep Perth Glory in the race for a top six finish with one game to go.
Despite going behind to a headed Adrian Leijer goal on 13 minutes, Perth Glory responded with their best first half of the season.
In a slick display of fast, one touch attacking football, Perth Glory created chance after chance with a dominant performance.
The Glory-s first goal on 20 minutes was a gem. A neat combination of passes before Chris Harold produced an acrobatic volley past Victory ‘keeper Nathan Coe.
The second, 18 minutes later, was equally impressive as another tapestry of passes led to Ryo Nagai pin-pointing his cross to Dodd, who finished from close range.
Perth-s 2-1 lead at half time could have been more but not for the heroics of Coe who denied Nagai from point blank range.
The incredible saves continued in the second half but this time they came from Perth Glory-s shot stopper, Danny Vukovic.
In the space of sixty seconds, Vukovic made two massive saves to protect his team-s lead.
The Glory also had chances to extend their margin, but again Coe stood tall to keep out Chris Harold.
The drama continued right to the death and in the 89th minute, the Victory equalised in controversial circumstances. Despite the ball clearly going out, play was waved on, and substitute Cristaldo made it 2-2.
Not to be denied, Perth Glory pressed on and Risdon picked the perfect moment to strike.
Bursting forward from right full-back, Risdon curled the ball past Coe with his left boot to score a priceless winner.
Perth Glory will now host Adelaide United next Saturday night at nib stadium for a finals spot in front of an expected crowd of 20,000.
