Bruno Fornaroli scored his first Glory goal and Chris Ikonomidis claimed his second of the season as Glory secured a deserved 2-1 win over Wellington Phoenix at Westpac Stadium.
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Both Glory goals arrived in the first half and owed much to the ingenuity of Diego Castro who marked his 100th club appearance with a typically sparkling display.
It was his cross that was toe-poked home by Fornaroli for the visitors’ opener and the Spaniard also supplied the dinked ball into the box that was cut back by Ivan Franjic, via Fornaroli, for Ikonomidis to volley home the second.
Wellington’s solitary response, meanwhile, arrived deep into stoppage-time when substitute Dino Djulbic bundled Gary Hooper over in the box and Ulises Davila converted from the spot.
In addition to Castro’s milestone, the game also marked Franjic’s 200th Hyundai A-League appearance and the experienced defender impressed in what was his first game of the season.
The victory extended the WA side’s unbeaten run against Phoenix to four games and was rarely in doubt after Fornaroli struck in the 11th minute.
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Having soaked up some concerted home pressure in the early exchanges, Glory delivered a classic sucker-punch as Castro’s trickery bought him enough space from which to deliver a low cross and after getting the ball out of his feet with his first touch, Fornaroli prodded it home via the underside of the bar with his second.
The visitors then came very close to doubling their lead moments later, Kim drawing a fine save from Stefan Marinovic after galloping into the box to meet another dangerous cross from Castro.
And the Phoenix ‘keeper impressed again midway through the half when he managed to prevent Fornaroli’s firm header from finding the bottom corner.
Glory were not to be denied for long, however, as Ikonomidis made it 2-0 with a ruthless finish.
Castro’s chipped pass over the Wellington defence picked out Franjic and his cut-back from the byline was helped on by Fornaroli for Ikonomidis to crash home.
Davila did his best to haul the hosts back into the game, firing a low shot across the face of goal shortly before the break, but it was Glory who threatened again with the final chance of the opening period, the lively Fornaroli narrowly failing to hit the target with a powerful strike from just outside the box.
The chances continued to flow in the second half, Fornaroli forcing Marinovic into another smart stop after turning cleverly on the edge of the box and Liam Reddy twice being called into action at the other end to make regulation saves from danger-man Davila.
Glory substitute Jacob Tratt was also foiled by Marinovic, before Davila fired a stinging effort centimetres over the bar and David Ball then contrived to place his shot wide from just six yards out in the 88th minute.
There was still time for Davila to halve the deficit from the spot, but Glory duly saw out the final 30 seconds of stoppage-time to secure their first victory of the 2019/20 campaign.
Match Details
Wellington Phoenix 1 (Davila (pen) 90+5′) Perth Glory 2 (Fornaroli 11′, Ikonomidis 33′)
Half-time: 0-2
Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Referee: Alex King
Assistant Referee 1: Wilson Brown
Assistant Referee 2: Daniel Ilievski
Fourth Official: Lachlan Keevers
VAR: Kris Griffiths-Jones
Wellington Phoenix: 1.Stefan MARINOVIC (gk), 3.Luke DEVERE, 5.Matti STEINMANN, 9.David BALL, 10.Ulises DAVILA, 11.Jaushua SOTIRIO (31.Ben WAINE 75′), 14.Alex RUFER (7.Reno PISCOPO 59′), 16.Louis FENTON, 21.Callum MCCOWATT (88.Gary HOOPER 75′), 23.Walter SCOTT, 27.Steven TAYLOR (c)
Substitutes not used: 2.Liam MCGING, 6.Timothy PAYNE, 8.Cameron DEVLIN, 20.Oliver SAIL (gk)
Yellow cards: Rufer, Ball
Red cards: None
Perth Glory: 33.Liam REDDY (gk), 2.Alex GRANT, 4.Gregory WUTHRICH, 5.Ivan FRANJIC, 9.Bruno FORNAROLI, 12.Kim SOO-BEOM (3.Jacob TRATT 68′), 13.Osama MALIK (6.Dino DJULBIC, 89′), 17.Diego CASTRO (c), 19.Chris IKONOMIDIS (29.Kristian POPOVIC 64′), 27.JUANDE, 88.Neil KILKENNY
Substitutes not used: 1.Tando VELAPHI (gk), 7.Joel CHIANESE, 28.Gabriel POPOVIC
Yellow cards: Wuthrich, Grant
Red cards: None
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