Glory remain top of the Westfield W-League table on goal difference despite suffering a 3-2 defeat at the hands of title rivals Canberra United.
16-year-old Alexia Moreno marked her debut for the WA side by scoring a superb late free-kick, while Rachel Hill continued her incredible form by bagging her seventh goal in five games, but it was not enough to deny the hosts their third win of the campaign.
With Sam Kerr and Rocky Rodriguez both missing through international duty and Nikki Stanton and Jaymee Gibbons sidelined by injury, Glory fielded a much-changed line-up at McKellar Park and fell behind when Grace Maher rifled home a low shot on 16 minutes.
Bobby Despotovski’s side restored parity on the stroke of half-time, however, as Hill broke clear and found the top corner of Haley Kopmeyer’s net.
Despite Glory dominating the opening exchanges of the second half, Amy Sayer restored United’s lead with a long-range effort just short of the hour mark and Melissa Maizels then kept her side in the game with a superb one-on-one save from home skipper Ashleigh Sykes.
But the Glory ‘keeper was left helpless moments later as England international Laura Bassett made it 3-1 with a fine effort from outside the box.
The tempo of the game didn’t falter in the latter stages and shortly after replacing Nicola Bolger, highly-rated youngster Moreno fired a free-kick through a crowd of players to set up a tense finale.
Hill then went agonisingly close to securing a share of the spoils for the visitors when her fierce effort skimmed the cross bar on the stroke of full time, but it was no to be.
Glory return to action on Friday with another away fixture, this time at Western Sydney.
Match Details
Canberra United 3 (Maher 18′, Sayer 57′, Bassett 70′) Perth Glory 2 (Hill 45′, Moreno 87′)
(Half-time 1-1)
McKellar Park, Canberra
Referee: Rachel Mitchenson
Assistant Referee 1: Nia Southwell
Assistant Referee 2: Georgia Ghirardello
Fourth Official: Delfina Dimoski
Canberra United: 1.Haley KOPMEYER (gk), 4.Toni PRESSLEY, 5.Brianna OLIVERIO (7.Nickoletta FLANNERY 45′), 10.Grace MAHER (8.Liana DANASKOS 71′), 11.Elise THORSNES, 14.Ashleigh SYKES (c), 16.Karly ROESTBAKKEN, 17.Madelyn WHITTALL (6.Caitlin MUNOZ 80′), 18.Taren KING, 20.Amy SAYER, 34.Laura BASSETT
Yellow cards: Whittall, Bassett
Red cards: None
Perth Glory: 18.Melissa MAIZELS (gk), 2.Sarah CARROLL, 3.Kim CARROLL, 4.Natasha RIGBY, 6.Danielle BROGAN (14.Caitlin DOEGLAS 58′), 8.Shawn BILLAM (5.Patricia CHARALAMBOUS 67′), 9.Rachel HILL, 11.Nicola BOLGER (15.Alexia MORENO 76′), 12.Shannon MAY, 16.Amanda FRISBIE, 17.Marianna TABAIN
Yellow cards: Billam 15′
Red cards: None
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