Perth Glory’s Youth Team have defied the odds after going a man down early in the opening half to take a point from their match against Central Coast in NSW.
Perth Glory’s Youth Team have defied the odds after going a man down early in the opening half to take a point from their match against Central Coast in NSW.
Glory striker Anthony Skorich opened the scoring in the 22nd minute, just eight minutes after team mate David Tarka was sent for an early shower, to give the visitors a massive boost following the shock send off.
The Glory doubled their advantage before the half hour mark when veteran Mariners defender Andrew Clark headed into his own net following a corner.
Perth then braced for an inevitable attack from the home side and to their credit they managed to repel a series of dangerous moves.
It took the Mariners until the 62 minute to break through after a strike from Hyundai A-League regular Nigel Boogaard. Second half substitute Ty Owens then found the back of the net with 19 minutes remaining to ensure a tense finale to the match.
Glory goalkeeper Alex Pearson made sure Perth took something out of the game when he pulled off a spectacular save from a powerful Sean Mitchell volley in injury time.
The result leaves Perth in fourth place, three points clear of the Mariners.
Central Coast Mariners 2 (Nigel BOOGAARD 62-, Ty OWENS 71-)
Perth Glory 2 (Anthony SKORICH 22-, Andrew CLARK (og) 29-)
Saturday 3 January 2009, Frank Millington Field
Referee: Brett Hookham
Assistant Referees: Scott Edeling, Adam Weir
Fourth Official: Matthew Gillett
Central Coast Mariners: 30.Andrew REDMAYNE (gk) (1.Matthew NEMES (gk) 45-), 2.Steven TIBBETTS, 7.Matthew LEWIS, 8.Andrew CLARK (OA), 9.Brady SMITH, 12.Scott WRIGHT (6.Ty OWENS 59-), 13.Ashley BALCOMB (17.Sean MITCHELL 59-),14.Greg OWENS (OA), 15.Paul O-GRADY (OA), 16.Nigel BOOGAARD (OA), 21.Daniel Taylor (10.Glen TRIFIRO 59-).
Substitutes not used: Nil.
Yellow cards: Ashley BALCOMB 57-.
Red Cards: Nil.
Perth Glory: 1.Dejan ALEKSIC (gk) (40.Alex PEARSON (gk) 62-), 5.Steven HESKETH, 6.Dean EVANS, 7.James SAMMUT (12.Reece VITTIGLIA 62-), 9.Anthony SKORICH (16.Eli BABALJ 62-), 10.Adam LUCA (8.Howard FONDYKE 62-), 11.Ryan PEARSON, 13.Andrija JUKIC, 14.Liam HARVEY, 17.Mark LEE (OA), 18.David TARKA (OA).
Substitutes not used: Nil.
Yellow cards: Ryan PEARSON 86-.
Red Cards: David TARKA 14-.
