Glory produced a much-improved performance against conference leaders Melbourne City, but came away empty-handed after a 2-1 defeat in Saturday’s Foxtel Y-League game at MCY Academy, La Trobe University, Bundoora.
The woodwork denied the visitors just before half time, with Young Socceroo Callum Timmins’ shot crashing off the post.
But although Henry Hore did give John Gibson’s side the lead early in the second, the midfielder scoring from Yagoub Mustafa’s cross, two late goals from Denis Genreau and substitute Marko Delic gave City all three points.
“It was a very good away performance from us today,” said Gibson, “but it is a tough learning experience for the group. It was a first away trip for a majority of the squad. We were well organised which enabled us to create numerous chances, but we didn’t convert.
“Unfortunately, both goals we conceded were cheap and soft, each coming from us having possession of the ball.
“We deservedly opened the scoring after Hennezz [Hore] finished off good work from Yaks [Mustafa].
“We deserved more, but the tiniest of details were again our nemesis. Their goals came from a direct free kick and a poor back pass.
“On the flip side, we created many opportunities, were very competitive and went head-to-head away from home with a very tough Melbourne City Team.”
Those sentiments were echoed by Hore whose goal was his first for the club at Y-League level.
“Overall we were all very disappointed with the result and thought we deserved more from the game,” he said.
“I thought we played very well, but little details and our own mistakes let us down and we hope to get them out of our game next week against Melbourne Victory.”
City were boosted by the inclusion of former Socceroo Neil Kilkenny, but it was Glory who went closest to scoring the opener early on.
Choc Dau found space inside the penalty area in the opening minute only to see his shot well saved by the legs of City goalkeeper, Yaren Sozer.
The home side hit back and Glory custodian Jackson Lee was alert to deny Gianluca Iannucci’s long-range effort, before defender Mitch Graham headed wide from Josh Cavallo’s corner.
Walter Scott then almost got on the end of a low cross as Glory ended the half the better and they went even closer moments later when Jack Leech lost his marker and unleashed a powerful shot that Sozer tipped over at full stretch.
And only the woodwork saved City in stoppage time as Ollie Annis rolled a free kick to Timmins whose shot beat Sozer before cannoning back of the post.
City were out of the blocks quickly after the break and Kilkenny’s shot flashed inches wide of the target on 52 minutes, but five minutes later it was Glory who hit the front.
Some neat build-up play ended with Mustafa racing down the right and the striker, who made his Hyundai A-League debut last week, swept in a pin-point low cross that Hore converted from close-range.
To their credit, the hosts responded by lifting the tempo and duly restored parity on 73 minutes when Leech brought down Lucas Derrick on the edge of the area and skipper Genreau curled home the resulting free kick.
And five minutes later, it was 2-1 as substitute Delic pounced on a defence error to fire into an empty net.
Glory return to Foxtel Y-League action next Sunday when they host Melbourne Victory at Dorrien Gardens, with a kick-off time of 10.30am.
Match Details
Foxtel Y-League – Round 4
Saturday 9 December 2017
Referee: Luke Camilleri
Melbourne City FC 2 (Denis GENREAU 73′, Marko DELIC 79′) Perth Glory 1 (Henry HORE 57′)
Melbourne City: GK Yaren SOZER, 15 Denis GENREAU (C), 30 Neil KILKENNY, 34 Connor METCALFE, 36 Mark KARLIC (43 Lucas PORTELLI 81′), 38 Joshua CAVALLO, 39 Anthony LESIOTIS (51 Marko DELIC 60′), 41 Lucas DERRICK, 48 Mitchell GRAHAM, 49 Yasin NUR (47 Aidan FARQUHAR 74′), 50 Gianluca IANNUCCI,
Substitutes not used: RGK James DELIANOV
Yellow cards: Metcalfe, Delic
Perth Glory: GK Jackson LEE, 2 Luke BODNAR, 3 Riley WARLAND (14 Michael DOMFEH 78′), 4 Hayden STEVENS (c), 5 Ollie ANNIS, 6 Walter SCOTT (13 Cameron MURRAY 68′), 7 Jack LEECH, 8 Callum TIMMINS (12 Michael MCDOUGALL 62′), 9 Chok DAU, 10 Henry HORE, 11 Yagoub MUSTAFA
Substitutes not used: RGK Kyle MCDONALD
Yellow cards: Mustafa, Warland, Leech, Domfeh, Murray
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