Off-season recruits Scott Neville, Mitch Nichols and Jacob Poscoliero all featured for 45 minutes as Glory opened their pre-season campaign with a 3-1 defeat at the hands of PS4NPLWA leaders Inglewood United.
Having seen his first-teamers gain invaluable game time, Head Coach Kenny Lowe opted to make ten outfield changes at the break and deploy Glory’s PS4NPLWA side for the second half.
And although the youngsters produced some bright moments, they were unable to deny the in-form hosts the victory which came via Kenny Keogh’s well-taken first-half opener, a spectacular effort from leading scorer Alex Salmon shortly after the break and a late penalty from Chok Dau.
Glory’s goal, meanwhile, came from Jacob Italiano who found the net with the very last kick of the game.
Lowe’s side started brightly, withd Rostyn Griffiths firing in an early range-finder that flew over the bar, but chances at either end were few and far between until the hosts took the lead on 22 minutes.
Salmon’s clever ball picked out Keogh just inside the box and he turned neatly before finding the bottom corner of Liam Reddy’s net with a well-struck shot.
Glory’s response was to carve out two decent chances in as many minutes, with Andy Keogh creating them both for strike partner Adam Taggart whose shot and subsequent header narrowly missed the target.
Daniel Stynes was next to threaten the Inglewood goal, forcing home goalkeeper Alex Dunn into a fine, fingertip save with a stinging half-volley from 15 yards out.
And on the stroke of half time, a defensive mix-up allowed a Griffiths header to hit the post, with Dunn gratefully swooping on the loose ball as Taggart prepared to pounce.
The new-look, youthful Glory side that began the second half, however, soon found themselves 2-0 down.
After a corner was half-cleared, the ball sat up nicely for Salmon and his thumping 30-yard drive took a slight deflection on its way into the roof of the net.
Inglewood continued to threaten as the half wore on, with Reddy forced to produce several fine saves to keep them at bay.
But the visitors also had their moments, notably a rising effort from Callum Timmins that just crept over the bar with 15 minutes left and a fiizzing shot from James Fletcher which flashed narrowly wide.
United appeared to have had the final word when Jack Leach was adjudged to have impeded Dau in the box and the striker calmly converted the resulting penalty himself.
But on the stroke of full-time, Italiano claimed the latest of late consolations for Glory with a close-range finish.
INGLEWOOD UNITED 3 (Keogh 22′, Salmon 51′, Dau 82′)Â PERTH GLORY 1 (Italiano, 90′)
PERTH GLORY: 33. Liam REDDY, 23. Scott NEVILLE (12. Cam O’DOHERTY 46′), 3. Walter SCOTT (16. Harry QUIGLEY 46′), 2. Alex GRANT (4. Luke BODNAR 46′), 5. Jacob POSCOLIERO (15. Cam MURRAY 46′), 7. Joel CHIANESE (25. Bayley MONTGOMERY-BROWN 46′, 19. James FLETCHER 70′) 8. Rostyn GRFFITHS (17. Jack LEACH 46′), 6. Mich NICHOLS (21. Jacob ITALIANO 46′), 10. Daniel STYNES (11. Yacoub MUSTAFA 46′, 26. Ethan BROOKES 80′), 9. Andy KEOGH (18. Callum TIMMINS 46′), 22. Adam TAGGART (24. Michael DOMFEH 46′, 27. Abias BUKUKI 80′)
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