Perth Glory has again gone down by the narrowest of margins to Adelaide, the fourth time in succession that the South Australian’s have pinched all the points by a solitary goal.
Perth Glory has again gone down by the narrowest of margins to Adelaide, the fourth time in succession that the South Australian-s have pinched all the points by a solitary goal.
Perth was also left to lament another debatable penalty decision at Hindmarsh Stadium which ultimately led to the only goal of the match in the 31st minute. The Glory penalised when Robert Cornthwaite hit the deck as he and Perth stopper Chris Coyne grappled as the ball was lofted into the area.
Coyne was adjudged to have tugged on the big defenders shirt however subsequent replays showed the contact to be negligible. Travis Dodd stepped up to take the spot kick and delivered to give the home side the lead.
“Adelaide are a tough team to play against, they play direct and make it difficult every time you-re on the ball,” said Glory Coach Dave Mitchell.
“We couldn-t find our way forward with any purpose and that was costly. At the end of the day they had one shot on target and so did we but they capitalised.”
Glory failed to find their rhythm in the opening 45 minutes, hardly surprising with five of the club-s starting 11 new to the team, however the second half proved more fluent and with additional time together on the pitch there will be better to come.
“We are disappointed, we certainly didn-t perform to the standards we have set ourselves, no doubt about it,” Mitchell said.
“We will continue to get better as we spend more time together but we-re not looking for excuses. There is more hard work to be done on the training track and we-ll be setting ourselves for a big game against Wellington next weekend.”
Glory midfielder Victor Sikora was a lively throughout and carved the best opportunity in the opening exchanges with a wonderful free kick. The Dutchman curling a 25 yard shot around the wall and on target for the top corner to force Red-s keeper Eugene Galekovic into a save.
The club-s new central defensive pairing was particularly effective as Chris Coyne and Andy Todd effectively blunted the home side-s attacking options for the majority of the encounter.
Young defender Scott Neville also tried hard down the right while new recruit Todd Howarth earned his debut as a first half substitute for Jamie Coyne who was forced to the sidelines with a knee complaint.
Perth now returns home to prepare for another away fixture, this time an arduous journey across the Tasman to tackle the Phoenix next Sunday in Wellington.
Adelaide United 1 (Dodd 31-(pen))
Perth Glory 0
Friday, 7 August 2009 at Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide
Crowd: 13,847
Referee: Craig Zetter
Adelaide United Squad: 1.Eugene GALEKOVIC (gk), 2.Robert CORNTHWAITE, 3.ALEMAO, 4.Iain FYFE, 6.CASSIO, 7.Lucas PANTELIS (17.Michael MARRONE), 9.CRISTIANO, 10.Adam HUGHES, 12.Paul REID (23.Joe COSTA 59-), 13.Travis DODD (c), 14.Scott JAMIESON
Substitutes not used: 15.Francesco MONTEROSSO, 30.Daniel GODLEY (gk)
Yellow cards: Cassio 66, Travis Dodd 84-
Red cards:
Perth Glory Squad: 1.Tando VELAPHI (gk), 3.Jamie COYNE (17.Todd HOWARTH 39-), 4.Andy TODD, 6.Chris COYNE, 7.Jacob BURNS (c), 8.Victor SIKORA, 12.Scott NEVILLE, 14.Eugene DADI (11.Branko JELIC 65-), 16.Adriano PELLEGRINO (23.Andrija JUKIC), 19.Naum SEKULOVSKI, 21.Mile STERJOVSKI
Substitutes not used: 20.Aleks VRTESKI (gk)
Yellow cards: Jacob Burns 30-, Tando Velaphi 30-, Victor Sikora 83-
Red cards:
