A 10-man Perth Glory have suffered a disappointing 3-0 loss to Gold Coast United at Skilled Park on Sunday.
A 10-man Perth Glory have suffered a disappointing 3-0 loss to Gold Coast United at Skilled Park on Sunday.
The Glory had defender Dean Heffernan sent off in the first half and were unable to get anything out of their road trip despite creating several chances.
Shane Smeltz went close on several occasions against one of his former clubs, but a Zachary Anderson header and a late James Brown double helped Gold Coast end their 13-game winless run.
After a scrappy start, it was Gold Coast who took a surprise lead through Anderson.
A curling free-kick from Jake Barker-Daish found the centre-back, who guided his header into the corner and left Danny Vukovic with little chance.
The Glory, on the road after a 1-0 win over the Central Coast Mariners in Perth’s searing heat last Sunday, were unable to make a real impact in the opening half-hour.
It got worse for Ian Ferguson’s men on 35 minutes when left-back Heffernan was shown a controversial red card.
Referee Kris Griffiths-Jones had no hesitation in sending off Heffernan for an alleged elbow on Daniel Bowles.
The red card sparked the visitors into life, and they were unfortunate not to be on level terms before half-time.
First, Travis Dodd forced Jerrad Tyson into a low save, before Shane Smeltz almost struck from the edge of the area, only to see the shot-stopper tip his drive around the post.
Josh Brillante threatened Vukovic’s goal before the break, but it was Glory who were again on the front foot after the restart despite their numerical disadvantage.
A Smeltz header drew Tyson into another save on 54 minutes, while Billy Mehmet would have levelled if his volley had gone either side of the Gold Coast goalkeeper moments later.
Mike Mulvey’s men were prepared to concede possession and try to hit the Glory on the break, but Ferguson’s defence continued to keep the young and quick United side at bay.
It was Mehmet who almost struck a stunning equaliser, having his long-range free-kick well-saved by a desperate Tyson with less than a quarter of an hour to play.
The hosts sealed the three points thanks to two Brown strikes.
A Bowles cut-back was mis-hit by Brillante, falling into the path of Brown to side-foot into the bottom corner for his fifth goal of the campaign in the 83rd minute.
Brown was not finished there, curling a 20-yard free-kick into the bottom corner to complete the scoring in the third minute of additional time.
