Perth Glory youth has remained unbeaten in eight matches by drawing 3-3 with Sydney FC at Dorrien Gardens today.
Perth Glory youth has remained unbeaten in eight matches by drawing 3-3 with Sydney FC at Dorrien Gardens today.
An undermanned Perth Glory outfit was unlucky not to get the three points as Sky Blues’ midfielder Iain Ramsey levelled the affair with five minutes remaining in what was a thrilling match.
In a rollercoaster Saturday evening affair in Perth, Sydney took the lead through Tim McGowan in the eighth minute as the Glory exercised their best efforts to break down the visitor’s committed defence.
The Perth young guns succeeded and went into attack as Howard Fondyke equalised just before the break.
Sydney took the lead again within minutes of the restart as Ramsey fired home but that only pushed the Glory to lift their intensity, the hosts taking the lead through goals to Adam Taggart and Glen Trifiro despite being a man down.
In a barnstorming finish, Sydney returned fire in the dying minutes as Ramsey equalised once again with five minutes remaining via a glancing header past Aleks Vrteski.
Branko Jelic made a first half appearance for Perth as he returned from a three-match absence with an ankle injury. The former Bundesliga striker produced some good touches and forced several good saves from Nenad Vekic in the Sydney goal.
Down the other end Kerem Bulut was using his speed to terrorise the Glory back four, Griffiths getting in an important tackle on the striker just as he was about to fire.
But Griffiths went for one tackle too many seven minutes before the break as he took down McGowan and was immediately sent for an early shower.
Despite being a man down, the Glory took advantage of a lapse in Sydney’s concentration in the 45th minute as Cameron Edwards beautifully sent Fondyke through, the defender firing home emphatically.
Jelic came off at the break and was replaced by Taggart but despite the changes it was Sydney which drew first blood in the second half, Ramsey firing his side ahead again in the 47th minute, the youngster driving the ball home from a tight angle as an exposed Vrteski tried closing him down.
Four minutes later Sydney’s Dimitrios Petratos fired narrowly wide and the Glory took advantage of the let-off, with Edwards again producing a delightful through-ball just after the hour to tee up Taggart, who slipped the ball into the back of the net.
With 15 minutes remaining, Perth midfielder Glen Trifiro used all his muscle to produce a sensational run, where he busted four tackles to close in on goal and score, but a subsequent miss by Taggart in the 83rd minute ultimately proved costly.
As the Glory tired, Sydney took advantage of the extra man as Ramsey glanced the ball past Vrteski with five minutes remaining.
The Sky Blues lifted their intensity once more and were streaming towards goal just a minute later. But Perth skipper Dean Evans did brilliantly to close down and dispossess Raymond Miller while his fellow defender Ryan Pearson produced a timely header to clear the ball off the line seconds later.
There was still time for the Glory to attack as well, but Taggart sent a powerful injury-time effort straight at the Sydney ‘keeper as the match was drawn.
Perth remains in second position on the table only two points behind table-topping Central Coast Mariners after their 2-0 defeat of the AIS.
National Youth League- Round 19
Perth Glory 3 (Fondyke 45′, Taggart 64′, Trifiro 75′)
Sydney FC 3 (McGowan 8′, Ramsey 47′, 85′)
