A gallant performance by Perth Glory’s youngsters was not enough to stop NPL giants Perth SC to take three points in Round 7 of WA NPL action at Dorrien Gardens at the weekend.
Perth striker Nick Ambrogio gave the home side the lead in the first half, before Carlo Coelho doubled their advantage early in the second half.
But John Gibson’s side continued to press and were rewarded late with Ali Gholami scoring but Glory ran out of time to find the equaliser.
“We have shown we can compete with top sides like Perth because we stick to our game plan and it seems it’s the smallest details are letting us down each week,” Glory midfielder Dejan Spaseski said.
“If we can fix these minor problems then I’m sure we can turn our season around and start getting the results to match our performances.”
Glory made one change to the side that lost to Inglewood United last week, with Gian Albano coming into the back four to replace Tom King.
Perth SC opened brightly and was on the front foot but Glory skipper Jacob Collard and Nathan Costello were solid at the back.
The visitors went close to the opener on 20 minutes. Collard’s long-range free kick beat Alex Dunn, but the crossbar came to his rescue.
The home side possession was rewarded on the half hour with the lead.
Skipper Clark Keltie’s cross picked out Ambrogio at the back post, and the young striker headed home past Jordan Franken.
Both sides pressed before half time, but at the break the home side led 1-0
Perth doubled its advantage eight minutes into the second half. Ambrogio was again involved, he picked out Mark Pritchard, whose shot was well saved by Franken, but Coelho was the quickest to react to fire home from close-range.
Not daunted, Glory pressed forward and Nic Talimdzioski went clear through with only Perth keeper Dunn to beat, but he stood tall to save.
Moments later Stefan Valentini was played through by Slobodan Vulin, but again Dunn was equal to the task and saved well.
The Glory was finishing the game well, and Spaseski’s long-range shot flashed just wide.
Glory pulled one back in stoppage time. Vulin’s free kick wasn’t dealt with by Dunn and Gholami bundled the ball home from close-range.
Time ran out for Glory to score a second and Perth finished the match with a 2-1 win
Glory will host Champions Bayswater City at Inglewood Stadium on Saturday, May 23.
PERTH SC 2 (Ambrogio 34’, Coelho 52’)
PERTH GLORY 1 (Gholami 90+5’)
Referee: Stuart Muldoon
Perth SC: GK Alex DUNN, 2 Joshua WILKINS, 3 David CYRUS, 5. Dean EVANS, 6. Clark KELTIE (c), 7 Carlo COELHO, 13 Rocco PIZZATA (21 Julian MADASCHI 86’), 14 Mark PRITCHARD, 16 Nicholas AMBROGIO (9 Harley ORR 75’), 19 Andreas THEODOSIADES (8 Aden DA LUZ 63’), 20 James MAROCCHI
Subs not used: RGK Francis SOALE, 18 Josh PEREIRA
Perth Glory: GK Jordan FRANKEN, 2 Gian ALBANO, 3 Jacob COLLARD, 4 Nathan COSTELLO, 5 Ali GHOLAMI, 6 Calvin WHITNEY, 7 Sam MACKERNAN (14 Michael MCDOUGAL L 71’), 8 Dejan SPASESKI, 9 Stefan VALENTINI, 10 Slobodan VULIN, 11 Nick TALIMDZIOSKI.
Subs not used: RGK Jordan YOUNG, 12 Matthew NTOUMENOPOULOS, 13 Sean TROUP, 15.Hayden STEVENS
