Goals from Joel Chianese (2) and Daniel Stynes fired Glory to their first Foxtel Y-League Conference A win of the campaign as they downed Melbourne City 3-1 at Dorrien Gardens on Saturday.
And the performance was all the more impressive given that City had come into the game boasting a season-long unbeaten record.
Chianese’s early brace put the hosts in control, only for the Conference leaders to hit back through Gianluca Iannucci.
But a strike from second-half substitute Daniel Stynes made sure of the three points, leaving Glory Head Coach John Gibson understandably delighted.
“We have reset our goals and today we wanted to beat the Conference Champions. We wrote a scoreline on the whiteboard in the rooms and we achieved that with a fantastic performance,” he said.
“We created some great chances and I’ve spoken about it all season, we need to take them and to capitalize on our dominance, so I’m really happy for the boys today. They have worked extremely hard in very hot conditions.
“The whole group have been fantastic all season. We’ve spoken about ending the season well and with three games to go, we want to win them all.
“Two of those games are away and we’re looking forward to the challenge, but we will make sure the processes and details are boxed off, as that’s really important for us.”
Those sentiments were echoed by midfielder Callum Timmins who admitted that his recent A-League debut has served as an extra motivating factor for him.
“That win has been coming,” he said. We’ve been good and dominated games, but haven’t got the right result.
“Today we were out of the blocks early and took our chances and got the win, which I think we deserved.
“The experience I’ve had in the last two A-League games has been amazing and a dream come true and hopefully I can keep pushing to get back in it.
“I’ve had a taste of A-League football and it makes you eager to get more. I’ll be doing all I can to achieve that.”
Glory brought in some experience for the City clash, with Joe Knowles and Jake Brimmer handed some game time, while Chianese, Stynes and Jacob Poscoliero, who are all recovering from injury, also had a run out.
It was a perfect start for the home side who were ahead on four minutes as Chianese found space on the edge of the penalty area and finished clinically past Yaren Sozer.
And it was 2-0 six minutes later when Knowles did well to get to the by-line and pulled the ball back for Chianese who made no mistake from close-range.
City hit back on 16 minutes, however, with Ramy Najjarine providing the low cross which was turned home by Iannucci at the back post.
It was game on, but it was Glory creating the better chances, with Knowles in the thick of the action.
Firstly his shot from the edge of the penalty area flashed wide of the post, before a superb, last-ditch tackle from Lucas Portelli prevented the striker from restoring his side’s two-goal cushion.
City were still very much in it, however and skipper Denis Genreau’s shot was saved by Jackson Lee on the half-hour, while Lucas Derrick’s long-range effort whistled over the top.
And the visitors should have levelled in the shadows of half time, Iannucci pulling the ball back to Braedyn Crowley who blazed over when well placed, thus ensuring that Glory took their hard-earned lead in to the break.
Gibson then made a double change at half time, with goalscorer Chianese and midfielder Brimmer being replaced by Stynes and Hayden Stevens respectively.
It was end-to-end football once again after the break, with Henry Hore firing just wide on the hour, but sixty seconds later, the hosts did manage to extend their lead.
Chok Dau cut in from the left and picked out Hore, who in turn found Stynes and he made mistake on his return to football after a long injury lay-off.
Glory youngsters are back in Foxtel Y-League action next Friday morning when they travel to Lanham Park to take on Brisbane Roar (Kick-off 8.30am WA time)
Foxtel Y-League Round 8
Perth Glory 3 (Chianese 4’, 10’, Stynes 61’) Melbourne City 1 (Iannucci 17’)
Saturday January 13, 2018
Kick-off: 9.30am
Referee: Shane Skinner
Perth Glory : GK Jackson LEE, 2 Luke BODNAR, 3 Jacob POSCOLIERO, 4 Riley WARLAND, 5 Ollie ANNIS (C), 6 Callum TIMMONS, 7 Joel CHIANESE (13 Daniel STYNES 46’), 8 Jake BRIMMER (14 Hayden STEVENS 46’), 9 Joe KNOWLES (12 Yagoub MUSTAFA 40’), 10 Henry HORE, 11 Chok DAU
Subs not used: RGK Kyle MCDOUGALL
Yellow Cards: Hore 41’, Timmins 56’, Annis 63’
Melbourne City: GK Yaren SOZER, 12 Braedyn CROWLEY, 15 Denis GENREAU (C), 35 Ramy NAJJARINE, 36 Dylan PIERIAS, 39 Anthony LESIDTIS, 41 Lucas DERRICK (44 Zachary BATES 68’), 43 Lucas PORTELLI, 47 Aidan FARQUHAR, 49 Yasin NUR (48 Mitchell GRAHAM 66’), 50 Gianluca IANNUCCI (50 Yusuf AHMED 69’)
Subs not used: RGK James DELIANOV
Yellow Cards: Portelli 56’, Genreau 58’
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