Nothing between Glory and Victory

Perth Glory and Melbourne Victory fought out an enthralling 1-all draw under clear blue skies at Dorrien Gardens in Perth today.

Perth went into the match without their star recruit, Socceroo Stan Lazaridis, who only recently returned to full-time training since the FIFA World Cup.

Coupled with the fact that, Simon Colosimo, Jeremy Christie and Jamie Coyne were also unavailable for selection, due to injury, Perth carried the same squad into the match that lined up against the Central Coast Mariners in Round One of the 2006 Pre-Season Cup last week.

The first half saw both sides create opportunities but failed to find the net. Initially, Melbourne took the game to their hosts, but Perth weathered the storm and diffused any possibility of conceding an early goal. Perth had a scare 15 minutes into the match when David Tarka picked up an injury and had to be substituted in the 17th minute by Bobby Despotovski, who started the match from bench due to a virus.

Fortunately, later examination showing a gluteal injury to Tarka, rather than a recurrence of the hamstring condition that had sidelined him for the majority of last season.

After a reorganisation of the line-up, Glory went on the offensive, with Naum Sekuloski and Stuart Young combining well on the left side of the park. Leo Bertos also showed the same form he displayed last week, causing many problems for the Victory defence on the right-hand side.

The best opportunity for Glory came midway through the half when Bertos fed Sekulovski a deft pass, in the box only for his ensuing goal-bound shot to be touched around the post by Eugene Galekovic in the Victory goal. Despotovski was also unlucky not to score shortly after when his dipping free-kick from just outside the area narrowly passed over the bar.

Melbourne also had two dead-ball opportunities from the edge of box, but on both occasions they were unable to evade the Perth Glory defensive wall. Victory could have gone one up just before half time, but striker Danny Allsopp was also unable to capitalise on an Archie Thompson cross following a dangerous solo-run down the right, which meant the teams were scoreless going into the break.

Within six minutes of the start of the second half, Allsopp made amends for his earlier missed chance when he was able to find some space in the box and get on the end of a great pass from midfielder Fred. Allsopp making no mistake with the one-on-one opportunity, clinically slotting his shot past a diving Jason Petkovic.

Perth rallied after conceding and were rewarded with an equaliser eight minutes later when Ante Kovacevic went on a run forward into the Victory box, evaded his defender and unselfishly laid off a perfect square ball for Stuart Young to finish from close range.

The drama didn’t stop there for the Glory with goal-keeper Petkovic, needing to be substituted with an injury to his ankle with 20 minutes left to play, following a fantastic goal-line clearance to deny Melbourne the lead. The substitution handing Australian Youth International and WA-local Aleks Vretski his debut for the Glory.

Both teams pressured hard for the remainder, but neither could find the winner. All in all, a fair result for both teams.

Following the match, Perth Glory Acting-Head Coach, Alan Vest was pleased with the performance of his team.

“We showed a lot of spirit out there today. Despotovski wasn’t 100% coming into the match and neither was Petokovic, but they both played significant roles. Jason may have injured his ankle pretty badly in the second half and will have scans this week to see how bad it really is.

“It was also a difficult pitch to play on, but I think we adapted well and played some good football today.

“If we can continue with the form we showed today, and with the signing of a number of new players, we’re looking good for the season.”

Glory Captain Jamie Harnwell was equally pleased with the performance.

“As a team we really banded together today, and you couldn’t fault anyone’s performance.

“We are getting back to the standard that we were a few years ago.

“There’s a very positive vibe running through the change-room at the moment, and today’s result gives us a lot of confidence going into next weekend against Adelaide.”

Next weekend, Perth Glory will host Adelaide United at Dorrien Gardens on Sunday, July 30 (kick-off 3:00pm), in a match that may feature the long-awaited debut of key signing Lazaridis.

The first Hyundai A-League Season home fixture for Perth Glory will be against Central Coast Mariners, on Sunday, September 3 at Members Equity Stadium.

Season membership renewals for existing members are available until Wednesday, August 2, with general public sales open from 9am on Monday, August 7.

To pre-register interest in Perth Glory memberships, visit www.perthglory.com.au. Memberships and match tickets will be sold through Ticketmaster on 136 100 or online at www.ticketmaster.com.au.