A spirited Perth Glory have gone down 2-nil to Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park.
A spirited Perth Glory have gone down 2-nil to Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park.
But despite the loss, Glory interim head coach Ian Ferguson praised his players especially their first half performance.
“Overall I thought the boys competed well and it’s probably the best we’ve played for a long, long time,” Ferguson said.
“If we can play the way we played in the first half hopefully we can pick up some points.”
Archie Thompson put the Victory in front just before half-time before defender Rodrigo Vargas headed home from a corner midway through the second half to seal the three points.
In club legend Jamie Harnwell’s 250th game, captain Jacob Burns replaced Howard Fondyke in the Glory’s starting line-up. But fellow former Socceroos star Mile Sterjovski was left on the bench after he missed last week’s controversial 1-1 draw against Central Coast through suspension.
The visitors had much of the early possession and nearly were rewarded in the 16th minute when Adriano Pellegrino unleashed a fierce shot from 25 yards, but his effort smashed into the post.
Perth again came close when Scott Neville was played through, only for his shot to be well saved by Michael Petkovic and the rebound to be cleared before young striker Anthony Skorich could get there.
Thompson then put Melbourne in front in the fourth minute of stoppage time when he combined beautifully with Robbie Kruse to get behind the Perth defence and calmly finish from close range but picked up his injury on the play.
Melbourne maintained their pressure after half-time and substitute Vargas doubled the lead in the 63rd minute when he got free from a corner and headed home past Todd Howarth at the near post.
Glory coach Ian Ferguson brought Sterjovski on for Skorich and with one of his first touches, the former FC Basel attacker had a great chance on a quick counter-attack to bring his side back into the game, but Petkovic impressively saved.
Melbourne Victory: 2 (Thompson 45+4′, Vargas 63′)
Perth Glory: 0
