Glory moved eight points clear at the top of the Hyundai A-League ladder courtesy of a hard-fought, 1-1 draw at Western Sydney Wanderers on Sunday.
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The visitors had looked poised to chalk up their 15th win of the season having taken the lead through Chris Ikonomidis’ 24th-minute strike.
But they were ultimately forced to settle for a share of the spoils when Wanderers skipper Tarek Elrich fired home from the edge of the box five minutes into stoppage-time.
Glory dominated for long periods in what was a game of relatively few chances at Spotless Stadium and despite the disappointment of the last-gasp leveller, remain unbeaten on their travels this term.
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It was the men in white who produced the first shot in anger, Ikonomidis stinging the palms of Vedran Janjetovic with a fierce, angled strike and the Socceroos frontman went close again shortly afterwards, nodding an Andy Keogh cross just over the bar.
He was not to be denied for long, however, capping some fine approach work from Ivan Franjic and Diego Castro by slipping a first-time shot under Janjetovic to claim his eighth goal of the campaign against his former club.
On the stroke of half time, Glory came close to doubling their advantage, Keogh showing great persistence to get to the byline and cross for Ikonomidis who was just unable to get enough power on his header.
In a lively finish to the opening period, Wanderers created a decent chance of their own, Liam Reddy getting down well to his right to block Oriol Riera’s diving header.
Wanderers again threatened shortly after the restart, Matt Spiranovic forced to make a last-ditch block having been dispossessed by the lively Bruce Kamau, before Glory responded through Keogh who was foiled by Janjetovic in a one-on-one situation.
The chances largely dried up in the final quarter as Tony Popovic’s men succeeded in keeping Wanderers at arm’s length, but there was to be a twist in the tale.
Deep into stoppage time, Manyiel Majok pulled the ball back to the top of the box and Elrich bent home his second goal of the season to deny Glory a fifth successive victory.
Match Details
Western Sydney Wanderers 1 (Elrich 90+5′) Perth Glory 1 (Ikonomidis 24′)
Half-time: 0-1
Spotless Stadium, Sydney Olympic Park
Referee: Jonathan Barreiro
Western Sydney Wanderers: 20.Vedran JANJETOVIC (gk), 8.Jordan O’DOHERTY (22.Rashid MAHAZI 16′), 9.Oriol RIERA (19.Mark BRIDGE 77′), 10.Alex BAUMJOHANN (12.Mitchell DUKE 60′), 11.Bruce KAMAU, 13.Tass MOURDOUKOUTAS, 17.Keanu BACCUS, 21.Tarek ELRICH, 28.Roly BONEVACIA, 33.Tate RUSSELL, 49.Abraham MAJOK
Substitutes not used: 14.Mathieu CORDIER, 40.Nicholas SUMAN (gk)
Yellow cards: Bonevacia
Red cards: Nil
Perth Glory: 33.Liam REDDY (gk), 3.Jason DAVIDSON, 4.Shane LOWRY, 5.Ivan FRANJIC, 6.Dino DJULBIC (23.Scott NEVILLE 75′), 9.Andy KEOGH (7.Joel CHIANESE 68′), 13.Matthew SPIRANOVIC, 17.Diego CASTRO, 19.Chris IKONOMIDIS ( 20.Jake BRIMMER 83′), 27.JUANDE, 88.Neil KILKENNY
Substitutes not used: 1.Tando VELAPHI (gk), 22.Fabio FERREIRA,
Yellow cards: Keogh, Spiranovic, Reddy
Red cards: Nil
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