Perth Glory’s young guns undid all their hard work against NPL powerhouse Balcatta at the weekend, despite securing a strong 2-0 lead at half-time.
John Gibson’s side was cruising with goals to Nic Talimdzioski and Slobodan Vulin, but Calvin Whitney’s send off, five minutes into the second half, put them on the back foot.
A Gustavo Catarcione brace either side of Adrian Caceres strike gave the home side the win.
“We had an exceptional first half, and played some good football, and created chances and took them,” Gibson said.
“We knew they were going to come out strong and we had to match that aggression, but the sending off changed the game, but that’s football”.
“A key factor when you come against teams like this is experience and physicality and that’s what we’re going to benefit from each week.”
Glory striker Dejan Spaseski said the young side was outstanding, and said there was a great deal of positives to come out of the game.
“Our first half performance was probably the best 45 minutes we have played all season,” he said.
“Then the ref made a questionable call to send off Calvin (Whitney), which changed the game completely. All the boys were devastated but we still left the game with our heads held high. “
The home side had the first opportunity to open the scoring early, with Adam Tong rising highest at the back post to head Caceres’ cross against the crossbar.Â
But it was John Gibson’s side who hit the front on the half hour. Talimdzioski found space on the edge of the penalty area, and he lobbed Balcatta keeper Clint Davies.
In the shadows of half time the Glory youngsters doubled their lead. Talimdzioski raced into the area and was bundled over by Tong and referee Matt Southern pointed straight to the spot.
Vulin stepped up and calmly beat Davies from the resulting penalty. Â
Balcatta started the second half well, and they were given a lift early in the second half when Calvin Whitney was given a second yellow card and was sent off on 50 minutes.
Then in four minutes Balcatta reduced the margin.
Former Glory Youth midfielder Hanafi Ghezali, came off the bench to deliver a perfect cross for Catarcione who headed home past Jordan Franken.
The home side was on top and it wasn’t a surprise when it levelled on 74 minutes.
Caceres found space outside the penalty area, and curled his shot into the top corner of the net.
Glory’s defence worked overtime to keep out the rampant home side but five minutes from time the defence was breached again, with Balcatta scoring the winner.
Tong’s cross picked out Catarcione, and the former Bayswater striker fired home to give Balcatta a come from behind win.Â
Glory will be in action next Saturday when it travels to Percy Doyle Reserve to take on Perth Glory legend Jamie Harnwell’s Sorrento.
Match Details
Balcatta FC 3 (Catarcione 54′ 85′, Caceres 74′,)
Perth Glory Youth 2 (Talimdzioski 27′, Vulin 42′)
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Grindleford Reserve
Kick-off: 3:00pm
Referee: Matt Southern
Assistant Referees: Scott Cairns, Oliver Allen
Balcatta FC: GK Clint DAVIES, 3 Keiron STALLARD, 5 Adam TONG (c), 8 Simon LEDUN (2 Hanafi GHEZALI 48′), 10 Adrian CACERES, 11 Gustavo CATARCIONE, 15 Marc DE FRANCESCH, 16 Dejan ANDRIC (13 Patrick SARA 55′), 17 Keiran COLWELL (14 Steve SOKOL 52′), 20 Patrick QUINN, 50 Blamo QUAQUA
Substitutes not used: RGK Daniel PASSARELLI, 23. Marc ZAGAMI
Yellow cards:Â Stallard 11′, Andric 47′, Qua Qua 64′, Sara 55′
Perth Glory: GK Jordan FRANKEN, Â 2 Gian ALBANO, 3 Jacob COLLARD (c), 4 Nathan COSTELLO, 5 Ali GHOLAMI, 6 Calvin WHITNEY, 7 Waliedin ISMAIL (12 Matthew NTOUMENOPOULOS 73′) 8 Dejan SPASESKI, 9 Nic TALIMDZIOSKI, 10 Slobodan VULIN, 11 Sam MACKEARNAN (13 Michael McDOUGAL 76′)
Substitutes not used: 20. Jordan YOUNG, 14. Alex TANESKI, 15. Ciaran SALINGER
Yellow cards: Whitney 20′ 50′, Vulin 67′
Red cards: Whitney 50′
