Perth Glory bounced back to winning ways in the Foxtel Y-League on Sunday, producing a dominant display to down Melbourne Victory 2-0 at Dorrien Gardens.
Glory rarely looked back after Daniel Stynes slotted the opener in the sixth minute, with captain Henry Hore also finding the back of the net early in the second half to secure maximum points for Richard Garcia’s side.
In a further boost for the hosts, attacking midfielder Jacob Italiano made an impressive return from injury after being introduced from the bench for the second half.
The win, Glory’s second of the campaign, lifted them to third in the Conference A standings with two games left to play next month and after some tough results in recent weeks, Garcia said he was delighted to see so many smiling faces in the changing room.
“It was a very composed performance by the boys and that’s something we’ve been asking of them over the last month or so,” he said.
“We asked them to think about when things start going against you, to start thinking about what your role is within the team and do that role and be composed in those times when you’re a little bit under the pump. I think they showed that today and they controlled the game, which is very pleasing.
“It’s been a hard few results for the boys; they really felt like they were good in spells and they’ve actually been quite good in the second halves of most of the games, but we needed to bring that all together into one performance. It’s been a big focus during the last few weeks and I think today saw them bring that together.”
It took Stynes just six minutes to ink his name on the scoresheet, side-stepping three Victory defenders before casually placing the ball into the bottom-right corner.
Victory’s Aydin Mustedanagic went perilously close to putting the match back on even terms just three minutes later, but his shot from the left ricocheted off the far post and was quickly cleared by Glory defender Cameron Murray.
Trent Ostler, meanwhile, created plenty of headaches for Victory down the home side’s left flank and would have doubled Glory’s advantage in the 22nd minute had it not been for the outstretched right arm of opposing goalkeeper Matthew Sutton.
Stynes then looked to have netted his second just four minutes later when Sutton fumbled a save inside the six-yard box, only for the ‘keeper to desperately pull back the ball just before it inched over the goal-line.
Glory continued to dominate in all areas of the pitch for the remainder of the first half, with a powerful strike from Victory winger Jack Palazzolo which went wide of the target the only serious threat to the home side taking a 1-0 lead into the half-time break.
Hore duly all but iced the win for Glory in the 55th minute, finding himself in the right place at the right time when the ball deflected in his direction at the top of the penalty area and carefully sending it into the bottom corner.
Substitute Sasa Njegic , Ostler and Italiano also all had late chances to make it 3-0, but were unable to convert.
Garcia’s side next take on Adelaide United at Dorrien Gardens on January 5th, giving the players plenty of time to recuperate and refocus.
“Obviously we’ll give the boys a bit of time with their families over Christmas, but we want try and keep things as professional as we can,” Garcia said.
“We want to make our environment very much like a full-time, professional environment, so we’ll give them a little bit of time, but then it’s straight back into training.”
Match Details
Perth Glory 2 (Stynes 6’, Hore 55’) Melbourne Victory 0
Half-time: 1-0
Referee: Shane Skinner
Perth Glory: 1. Jackson LEE (GK, 19. Nicholas SPECA 78’), 2. Daniel WALSH, 3. Cameron MURRAY, 4. Zayd FARAH, 5. Kristian POPOVIC (17. Jayden LEADER 75’), 6. Henry HORE (C), 7. Ethan BROOKS (14. Sasa NJEGIC 63’), 8. Trent OSTLER, 9. Jaidon SELDEN, 10. Daniel STYNES, 11. Gabriel POPOVIC (15. Jacob ITALIANO 46’)
Substitutes not used: None
Yellow cards: Sasa Njegic (90’)
Red cards: Nil
Melbourne Victory: 1. Matthew SUTTEN (GK), 2. Daniel AYE (14. Thiel IRADUKUNDA 27’), 4. Benjamin CARRIGAN (C), 5. So NISHIKAWA, 6. Stefan RISTIC, 9. Jack PALAZZOLO (7. Liston DIAZ 63’), 10. Brandon LAUTON, 11. Aydin MUSTEDANAGIC, 15. Matthew BOZINOVSKI, 17. Yazid SAID, 18. Aaron ANDERSON (8. Jack MORTON 66’)
Substitutes not used: 20. Lucas RUNJE (GK)
Yellow cards: Aaron Anderson (46’), Aydin Mustedanagic (48’)
Red cards: Nil
#OneGlory
Photo courtesy of Tom McCarthy
