Perth Glory’s Youth team received a Christmas bonus on Boxing Day with an impressive 2-0 victory against Adelaide United at Members Equity Stadium.
Perth Glory-s Youth team received a Christmas bonus on Boxing Day with an impressive 2-0 victory against Adelaide United at Members Equity Stadium.
After an even first half, Steve Hesketh and James Sammut unlocked a solid Adelaide defence to give Perth a well crafted win in front a healthy home crowd.
“It was a big occasion and we needed a win, Adelaide is third and this keeps us right up there with them,” Sammut said after the match.
“The boys were upbeat all week and coming into the change rooms today there was a good vibe and we definitely brought that out onto the pitch,” he added.
The Glory had the best chances in a relatively even first half and began to create more and more the longer the game progressed.
In the 33rd minute, Mark Lee had a tremendous chance to put the home side up, but couldn’t capitalise and his effort was repeated 10 minutes later by Andrija Jukic, who put a shot on goal that flew over the crossbar.
Adelaide’s Joel Allwright got in behind Perth’s defence 15 minutes into the second half and had one attempted shot blocked by a defender but was still able to get another shot off that was stopped by goalkeeper Dejan Aleksic.
It proved to be Aleksic’s last action of the game as he was replaced by Alex Pearson in goals soon after.
The wait for a goal was ended in the 64th minute when Hesketh was played in to a one-on-one situation with Adelaide ‘keeper Lucas Andreucci. He handled it well to guide it into the back of the net for his first National Youth League goal.
Neither team threatened over the next 20 minutes, but both went down a man. The Glory was the first when Ludovic Boi picked up his second caution then Adelaide’s Shane Tobias was dismissed with two yellows in a minute after showing his displeasure with a referee decision.
The Glory secured the win in the final minute of extra time when Sammut broke the lines to find himself one-on-one with the Adelaide shot stopper where he calmly slotted it home.
“It was nice to score my first goal for the team and it made sure all the points came our way. There was terrific support out there for us tonight and it was great to be part of a really good win for the Glory,” Sammut said.
Perth will play Central Coast next Saturday before returning to Western Australia where they-ll play the remainder of their home matches at Dorrien Gardens in West Perth.
National Youth League Rd 14
Perth Glory 2 (Steven HESKETH 64′, James SAMMUT 93′)
Adelaide United 0
Friday 26 December at Members Equity Stadium
Local kick off 5.15pm
Referee: Steven Gregory
Assistant Referees: Tim Mihevc, Trent Fleskens
Fourth Official: Troy Miller
Perth Glory squad: 1.Dejan ALEKSIC (gk) (40.Alex PEARSON (gk) 60-), 2.Ryan PEARSON, 3.Scott NEVILLE, 5.Steve HESKETH (12.Reece VITTIGLIA), 6.Dean EVANS, 11.Ludovic BOI, 13.Andrija JUKIC, 12.Reece VITTIGLIA (9.Anthony SKORICH 54-), 15.Scott BULLOCH (OA) (18.Mark LEE 65-), 18.Mark LEE (OA) (7.James SAMMUT 60-), 19.Dino DJULBIC (OA) (4.Liam HARVEY 50-)
Substitutes not used:
Yellow cards: Dean EVANS 36-, Ludovic BOI 41-, Ryan PEARSON 42-, Scott BULLOCH 63′, Ludovic BOI 66-, Antony SKORICH 87-
Red cards: Ludovic BOI 66-
Adelaide United squad: 40.Lucas ANDREUCCI (gk), 2.Michael DOYLE, 3.Scott WEIDENBACH (8.Michael MULLEN 68-), 4.Michael MARRONE, 5.Shane TOBIAS, 6.Alex SUNASKY, 7.Joel ALLWRIGHT, 8.Michael MULLEN (21.Joseph COSTA 60′), 9.Andrew CIARLA (16.Michael DE BONO 54′), 10.Osama MALIK, 13.Paul AGOSTINO (15.Francesco MONTEROSSO 60′)
Substitutes not used: 30.Tommi TOMICH (gk)
Yellow cards: Shane TOBIAS (79′ & 79′)
Red cards: Shane TOBIAS 79-
