Perth Glory have been made to work hard for their 2-1 victory over the WA State Amateur Team at Percy Doyle Reserve on Wednesday night.
Perth Glory have been made to work hard for their 2-1 victory over the WA State Amateur Team at Percy Doyle Reserve on Wednesday night.
The two sides were evenly matched in the opening part of the match and it took a brilliant curling free kick from triallist Gustavo Marulanda to break the deadlock in the 18th minute.
Glory’s lead was doubled moments later when Steven McGarry’s powerful shot from outside the box proved too strong for WA State Keeper Jamie Serra.
That was the way stayed going in to half time with Jack Clisby the next to come close, rattling the cross bar from outside the box in the second half, following some great lead up work from Adrian Zahra.
But WA slowly worked their way back into the match and managed to peg one back thanks to a superb 30-yard wonder strike from Aeamon Kelly.
Steven McGarry, Chris Harold and Michael Thwaite all made way for Riley Woodcock, Harry O’Brien and Sidnei Sciola in the 65th minute as WA continued to press for the equaliser, but the Glory held on to wind-up their local pre-season campaign with a 2-1 win.
Perth Glory Head Coach Alistair Edwards was happy with the game and overall pre-season so far.
“Once again, it was a good game against local opposition,” Edwards said.
“Both teams tried to knock the ball around and we managed to give some of our younger players some game time.”
“We’ve managed to stay injury free, integrate some of the younger players in to the culture of the team, so we know coming into the season, the current capabilities of the young players and the jobs they can do,” Edwards added.
WA State Amateur Coach Steven Dimitrivich was equally satisfied with his players taking the challenge up to the Glory.
“I’m wrapped. You’re talking about professional players who train six days a week compared to amateur players who work, maybe train two days a week and play on a Sunday.”
“The boys tried their hearts out and gave it their all,” Dimitrivich said.
Dimitrivich was also impressed with the Glory and thinks they will do well this year.
“I think they’ll finish top four. They play some nice attractive football and I think things are looking good for them,” he said.
Perth Glory – Devon Spence (GK) , Jack Clisby, Brandon O’Neill, Cameron Edwards, Adrian Zahra, Steven McGarry, Chris Harold, Daniel De Silva, Michael Thwaite, Matthew Davies, Gustavo Marulanda
SUBS: Ryo Nagai, Sidnei Sciola, Scott Jamieson, Riley Woodcock, Harry O’Brien, Neil Young (GK)
WA State Amateur Team – Jamie Serra (GK), Adam Rodgers, Lee Shepherd, Alex Brain, Muhamed Komadaric, John Cafferkey, Asa Nicholson, Jason Winter, Felim Rugel, Darren Coleman, Aeamon Kelly
SUBS: Eldin Ibrisimovic (GK), Kevan Towers (GK), Stuart Hartmann, Ago Mujic, Lee Jones, Dinko Ahmetanovic, Hussein Naser, Matt Gardner
Nathan Chapman
