With AAMI Park celebrating its tenth birthday today (where did that time go?!), we thought we’d revisit some of Glory’s most memorable Hyundai A-League visits to the Melbourne venue.
Interestingly, Glory’s Hyundai A-League results there are split exactly evenly, with the men in purple recording ten wins, ten draws and ten defeats to date.
And barely a handful of those games have failed to deliver in terms of drama, controversy and excitement.
The tone was set from the outset as Glory’s first trip in October 2010 saw Jamie Harnwell and Mile Sterjovski supply the goals in an impressive 2-0 win over Melbourne Victory.
In the following season, a Shane Smeltz double account for league new boys Melbourne Heart and the Kiwi marksman again found the net when Glory returned to chalk up another win over the same opponents three months later.
Some of the stadium’s gloss was rubbed off by three consecutive defeats in 2012/13, but when Glory needed a victory there in Round 26 of that season to keep their finals hopes alive, they duly downed Victory 3-2 in an absolute thriller notable for a 90th-minute screamer from Josh Risdon.
While defeat to Victory in the 2015 FFA Cup Final and a 5-1 defeat at the hands of City in November of that same year cut deep wounds, the following season saw the WA side bounce back in style as Andy Keogh completed a hat-trick five minutes from time to clinch a roller-coaster 3-2 win.
The goals continued to flow in Round 12 of that year courtesy of a 3-3 draw with Victory and first-half goals from Diego Castro and Richard Garcia duly eased Kenny Lowe’s men to a 2-0 victory over City in the first game of a finals campaign which was destined to end at the hands of Sydney FC a week later.
The 2017/18 season did not provide too many golden memories, but one of Glory’s three away wins that year did come at AAMI Park, Osama Malik falling foul of the VAR in earning a red card for the hosts and Xavi Torres, Mitch Nichols and Mitch Mallia providing the goals as the visitors ran out 3-1 winners.
And the drama, if anything, intensified last year as Chris Ikonomidis struck in stoppage-time to down Victory in Round 2 and Joel Chianese and Diego Castro scored in the last six minutes to secure a vital point against City.
Tomislav Mrcelá’s bullet header, meanwhile, was the pick of Glory’s goals in their most recent win at AAMI Park – 3-0 over City in Round 9 this season – and you get the distinct feeling that the thrills and spills narrative will continue when the club makes its next visit to one of the country’s finest football venues.
So thanks for ten years of memories, AAMI Park, we look forward to seeing you again soon!
#OneGlory
