Perth Glory suffered their second Foxtel Y-League defeat of the season as they were edged out 2-1 by Brisbane Roar Youth in hot conditions at Dorrien Gardens on Sunday morning.
The home side finished the game strongly, with Michael Domfeh coming off the bench to pull one back 19 minutes from time, but earlier goals from Daniel Leck and Bryce Bafford ultimately proved enough to seal all three points for the visitors.
Glory Coach John Gibson was left disappointed with the result and felt that mistakes had cost his side dearly.
“We conceded a real soft goal early,” he said, “and to be fair, they had some good opportunities early doors.
“We made some adjustments at half time and asked the players to show some really good attitude.
“They did that and we overran them and had opportunities to get a point late in the game, but it wasn’t to be.
“Yes it was hot, but it was the same for both sides. We have a no-excuses policy and we need to be better; it’s not our fitness that is letting us down.
“Obviously today wasn’t the result we were looking for, but we drive on now and prepare for Melbourne City away.”
Chok Dau, meanwhile, was influential as Glory battled their way back into the contest, but the striker felt that his side paid the penalty for their slow start.
“A couple of mistakes cost us today,” he said, “but once we started to play our game, we took control. It was too late, though; we need to start from the get-go and put teams under pressure.
“We’ve given Brisbane a head-start in the game and you can’t do that in this competition.
“We pressed late and the lads really finished the game off well and our fitness showed, but we move on to Melbourne City next week, which is a really important game for us to get our season going.”
The game was moved to earlier in the day, as temperatures reached the high 20s in the Perth metropolitan area and it was Brisbane who opened the brighter as Finn Beakhurst’s shot on the run flashed wide of the target.
Glory weren’t without early chances, however, with midfielder Michael McDougall making space down the left and feeding Dau whose low cross just eluded Bayley Brown-Montgomery at the back post, before Henry Hore’s snap-shot was saved low by Macklin Freke.
And yet ,on 22 minutes, it was the visitors who hit the front when Bafford’s cross was converted by Leck at the far post.
Glory almost hit back immediately as Dau was sent in on goal, but Kai Trewin got back with a last-ditch tackle to block the striker’s shot.
Despite the hosts starting the second half on the front foot, Roar doubled their lead after 52 minutes as a fine through-ball from Trewin allowed Bafford to race clear, round Glory ‘keeper Jackson Lee and roll the ball into an empty net.
To their credit, Glory responded well to the set-back as skipper Hayden Stevens headed just wide before Domfeh halved the arrears on 71 minutes, finishing from close range after some fine approach work from Dau.
And Gibson’s side almost snatched a share of the spoils right at the death when Stevens sent Dau racing clear down the right, but Freke was out quickly to narrow the angle and the striker fired over the top.
Match Details
Perth Glory 1 (Domfeh 71‘) Brisbane Roar 2 (Leck 22’, Bafford 52’)
Half Time 0-1
Dorrien Gardens
Referee: Shane Skinner
Perth Glory: 1 Jackson LEE, 2 Luke BODNAR (12 Walter SCOTT 60’), 3 Hayden STEVENS (c), 4 Cameron MURRAY, 5 Ollie ANNIS, 6 Henry HORE, 7 Jack LEECH, 8 Callum TIMMINS (14 Michael DOMFEH 46’), 9 Chok DAU, 10 Michael MCDOUGALL, 11 Bayley BROWN-MONTGOMERY (13 Riley WARLAND 64’) –
Substitutes not used: Kyle MCDONALD (gk)
Yellow Cards: Annis 31’, Leech 51’
Red cards: None
Brisbane Roar: 1 Macklin FREKE, 3 Kai TREWIN, 4 Aaron REARDON, 6 Adam SAWYER, 7 Daniel LECK, (5 Jeremy SAINT 82’), 9 Mirza MURATOVIC, 10 Bryce BAFFORD, 12 Finn BEAKHURST, 15 Emlyn WELLSMORE, 18 Rahmat AKBARI (C), (16 Daniel DRIVER 60’), 21 Zahary DUNCAN (19 Woosig YOON 70’)
Substitutes not used: Jordan GRIFFITHS (gk)
Yellow cards: Wellsmore 65’, Reardon 71’
Red cards: None
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