Glory’s first home game of the Westfield W-League 2019/20 season ended in defeat on Sunday as Sydney FC ran out 3-1 winners at Dorrien Gardens.
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Two goals inside the opening six minutes from Remy Siemsen gave the reigning champions the perfect start, before Caitlin Foord’s penalty ensured that they took a three-goal lead into the break.
And although Caitlin Doeglas pulled one back for the woman in purple early in the second half, Bobby Despotovski’s side were unable to prevent the Sky Blues from chalking up their third win of the campaign.
Post-game, Glory’s Head Coach conceded that his side’s slow start had left them a mountain to climb, but expressed his pride at their second-half response.
“The first ten minutes was identical to the Canberra game,” he said.
“We may have to have a look at how we approach the game from the start.
“Obviously the start was not what we expected and we’ll address that again on the training ground and move on.
“In the first half we were not smart enough to close their full-backs at the right times and they exposed us on the left-and side which cost us the goals.
“”At half-time we addressed that and Ayeesha [Norrie] came in and did a great job for us.
“We set ourselves a target not to lose the second half and to pinch a goal and credit to our players, they stood up and delivered.”
Sydney hit the front with their very first attack of the game, Siemsen’s cross-shot eluding Eliza Campbell and finding the corner of the net.
And the visitors’ number ten capitalised upon a defensive error moments later to make it 2-0, her shot striking the inside of both posts on its way over the line.
To their credit, Glory duly forced their way back into the contest, with only a fine, one-handed save from Aubrey Bledsoe preventing Leticia McKenna from halving the arrears with 14 minutes played.
And later in the half, Lexie Moreno went close with a lobbed effort after she latched on to Bledsoe’s punched clearance at the edge of the box.
But Glory were dealt a major blow in the 37th minute when Julia Sardo was adjudged to have tripped Princess Ibini-Isei in the box and Foord marked her 100th Westfield W-League appearance by calmly sending Campbell the wrong way from the spot.
The hosts needed a goal early in the second half to give themselves any hope of staging a comeback and they got exactly that as Katarina Jukic’s persistence in a crowded box enabled her to tee up Doeglas who crashed the ball gleefully into the roof of the net.
Sydney, however, continued to threaten and came close to making it 4-1 in the 65th minute when Foord turned neatly in the box and clipped in a shot which struck the top of Campbell’s bar.
Glory’s woodwork was left vibrating again moments later, this time from the impact of Chloe Logarzo’s looping header and the Matildas midfielder was denied again right at the death, this time Campbell blocking her bullet header with another impressive reflex save.
Match Details
Perth Glory 1 (Doeglas 46′) Sydney FC 3 (Siemsen 3′, 6′) Foord (pen) 38′
Half-time: 0-3
Attendance: 797
Referee: Rachel Mitchenson
Assistant Referee 1: Janelle Sammut
Assistant Referee 2: Arvin Shanmuganathan
Fourth Official: Shane Skinner
Perth Glory: 1.Eliza CAMPBELL (gk), 3.Kim CARROLL, 5.Shannon MAY, 6.Arianna ROMERO, 8.Morgan ANDREWS (12.Jenna ONIONS 67′), 10.Julia SARDO, 11.Leticia MCKENNA (19.Hana LOWRY 82′), 14.Caitlin DOEGLAS, 15.Alexia MORENO (4.Ayesha NORRIE 46′), 24.Natasha RIGBY (c), 28.Katarina JUKIC
Substitutes not used: 21.Morgan AQUINO (gk)
Yellow Cards: None
Red Cards: None
Sydney FC: 1.Aubrey BLEDSOE (gk), 2.Teresa POLIAS (c), 5.Ally GREEN (16.Julia VIGNES 85′), 6.Chloe LOGARZO, 7.Ellie BRUSH, 9.Caitlin FOORD, 10.Remy SIEMSEN (3.Shadeene EVANS 67′), 11.Sofia HUERTA, 12.Natalie TOBIN, 17.Angelique HRISTODOULOU, 20.Princess IBINI (15.MacKenzie HAWKESBY 76′)
Substitutes not used: 30.Trudy BURKE (gk)
Yellow Cards: None
Red Cards: None
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