Perth Glory have gone down 2-0 to Sorrento in the PS4 National Premier League WA game in the first ever game at Wonthella Oval in Geraldton.
The game was arranged by Football West as part of the Geraldton Football Festival, but a tough first half saw the Gulls race to a 2-0 lead with goals from Reece Vittiglia and Sean Canham.
The Glory responded after the break and created a number of chances, but they couldn’t find a way past a Sorrento defence.
Glory Coach said it was a game of two halves, and in the second they played some super football.
‘It was very tough in the first half with tough weather condition against a strong Sorrento side – we didn’t play to pitch and weather conditions,” he said.
“We certainly didn’t manage the game correctly, and Sorrento deserved to be in front at half-time, but we didn’t help our own cause.
“We had a little chat at half-time – provided further solutions and the second was a very good performance, but that’s two weeks in a row we’ve concede two in the first half.”
Glory striker Bayley Brown-Montgomery said the second half performance gives them confidence going forward.
“I thought we didn’t turn up to the game in the first half, which was disappointing,” he said.
“But it in the second half that completely changed and we ran the game and they couldn’t get the ball off us, and once again we created enough chances but just couldn’t score them.”
Sorrento were lively early, and had the Glory youngsters on the back foot, with Kyle McDonald making a couple of important saves.
It was the Gulls who were dominating and Vittiglia’s header crashed off the crossbar, but luck was on the Glory’s side.
It was backs to the wall for the Glory with Sorrento pushing for the opener and Kyle McDonald had to be alert again to save Ryan Pearson’s header on the half hour.
But five minutes later the Gulls pressure was rewarded with the lead. Brad McDonald diagonal cross-field pass found Pearson, who cut inside the box and crossed to Vittiglia who headed home.
Then in the shadows of halftime, the Gulls doubled their advantage. The Glory failed to clear a corner and in the resulting goalmouth scramble Canham rifled home into the top corner.
Whatever Gibson said at the break worked, as the Glory looked sharper and had Sorrento on the back foot.
They went close ten minutes in, when a quick counter attack, which ended with Callum Timmins, who slipped Daniel Stynes in one-on-one with James Morgan, but the Sorrento custodian produced a great save to deny the Glory skipper.
Moments later the lively Stynes was in again, this time he raced down the flank, and his shot flashed inches wide of the target.
Both sides created and wasted good chances as the rain set in, but it was the Glory looking the most likely to score.
They continued to take the game to Sorrento and had a final chance to get back into the game when a deep cross was headed back across goal by Stynes, but Michael Domfeh blazed over from close-range.
In other games this weekend, Glory under 18’s were beaten 5-2 by Sorrento at Percy Doyle Reserve on Thursday evening. They lead 2-1 at the break with goals from Ciaran Bramwell and Dylan Leonard.
They had plenty of chances to add to their lead, but Sorrento hit back in the second half to win. The under 20’s also played Sorrento on Thursday evening, and also lost 2-1, with Abias Bukuru on target.
The Glory are back in action on Saturday when they travel to Macedonia Park to take on Stirling Lions.
Match Details:
Sorrento 2 (Vittiglia 35’, Pearson 43’
Perth Glory 0
Saturday July 1, 2017
Wonthella Oval, Geraldton
Referee: Steven Gregory
Assistants: Adrien Liechti and Matthew Southern
Sorrento – GK James MORGAN, 2 Jacob SHORE, 8 Ryan PEARSON, 9 Sean CANHAM, 13 Steve MCDONALD (C),14 Scott WITSCHGE, 15 Brodie MARTIN, 17 Reece VITTIGLIA, 18 Jordan BROWN, 20 Brad MCDONALD, 21 Sam BYLES – Subs: RGK Anthony SALPLETRO, 6 Daryl PLATTEN, 11 Tim HIL, 12 Joshua TUCKER
Perth Glory – GK Kyle MCDONALD, 2 Joseph MARINO, 3 Luca BODNAR, 5 Walter SCOTT, 6 Jack LEECH, 7 Bayley BROWN-MONTGOMERY, 8 Callum TIMMINS, 9 Gomo DUKULY, 10 Daniel STYNES (C), 11 Yacoub MUSTAFA, 16 Cameron MURRAY – Subs: RGK Cealan MILLER, 12 Michael MCDOUGALL, 13 Michael DOMFEH, 14 Harry QUIGLEY, 15 Ash JAYAKUMAR
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