Perth Glory have gone down to a narrow 1-0 defeat against Perth SC at Dorrien Gardens in week seven of the PS4 National Premier League WA on Saturday afternoon.
Perth SC keeper Francis Soale was in outstanding form to keep the Glory youngsters at bay, and the only goal of the game came on the half hour through Nick Ambrogio.
Glory Coach John Gibson said they were super on the day, but their keeper had a blinder.
“Super happy with the performance of the group today, not happy the group isn’t getting fully rewarded for their tremendous efforts – however we demand a lot from each other and we need to be better at key moments,” he said.
“We created some really good chances but Franny – who we know well (Soale) – pulled off some quality saves – we need to be ruthless when opportunities present themselves – again we need to be better.
“Perth made it super difficult for us – we showed good patience and utilised our possession well, controlled tempo and created good opportunities which unfortunately we didn’t capitalize on.”
Gibson said the players again showed the rest of the league, they are going to be tough opposition for everyone, and said they are gaining a great deal of respect for the other clubs.
“Our goals at the start of the season were to be seriously competitive – yes we are doing that but this group wants more. We are going ok,” he explained.
“ECU Joondalup next week at home – so it’s game on – we look forward to another tough encounter.”
Glory skipper Jordan Thurtell said they need to start taking their chances.
“I thought we dominated possession but really lacked the killer punch in front of goal. We need to start turning our positive possession into goals,” he said.
“Defensively we are looking strong and are really holding our own, which is really pleasing.
“They (Perth) were a really well organized unit and did well to stop us creating more chances in front of goal, but we move on to next week.”
Glory made two changes to the side that beat Subiaco AFC last week, with Sean Troup and Daniel Stynes coming into the side, with Ross Millard out injured and Jacob Mustafa moving to the bench.
The home side opened the first half well and they had the Glory on the back foot, with skipper Clarke Keltie and former Perth Glory midfielder Dean Evans influential.
Evans set pieces were causing problems and Adrian Madaschi and Keltie coming close early on. But the Glory youngsters settled and they should have taken the lead on 20 minutes.
Gian Albano played a ball into Daniel Stynes who played back into the path of defender, who squared to Knowles in the penalty area.
The striker took a touch and fired goalwards, but as the crowd waited for the net to bulge, his shot was superbly saved by Soale, the rebound fell kindly to Sean Troup, but the Perth custodian was back on his feet to deny him too.
But ten minutes later it was the home side hit the front. A superb ball over the top from Keltie sent Ambrogio clear and he finished clinically past Thurtell.
Troup went close again before the break, this time he found space at the back post from Albano’s cross, but he failed to find the target.
After the break the Glory continued to press, and minutes in Nikola Talimdzioski went close. He played a one-two with Stynes and burst into the penalty area, but Soale stood tall to deny him.
Talimdzioski, who was playing only his second game after breaking his arm earlier in the month, saw a free kick which whistled past the post, before Aryn Williams picked him out with a superb diagonal ball, but his shot was deflected for a corner.
The Glory continued to press late on, and the home side dropped deeper, but the Glory couldn’t find a way past, and at the final whistle it was the home side taking the three points.
Match Details
Perth Soccer Club 1 (Ambrogio 31mins)
Perth Glory 0
Saturday April 30, 2016
Dorrien Gardens
Local kick-off: 3:00pm
Squads
Perth SC: GK Francis SOALE, 3 Marco SANTALUCIA (7 Frank FURFARO 66’), 4 Adrian MADASCHI, 5 Dean EVANS, 6 Clark KELTIE, 8 Tom KING, 9 Gustavo CATARCIONE, 10 Nick AMBROGIO, 12 Jordan DE LEO (16 Thomas JEBB 88’), 13 Rocco PIZZATA, 14 Dino TOPGACIC (17 Reece VITTIGLIA 57’) – Subs not used: RGK Daniel PASSARELLI
Yellow Cards: Nil
Perth Glory: GK Jordan THURTELL, 2 Gian ALBANO, 3 Aryn WILLIAMS, 4 Scott ROBERTSON, 5 Jackson MORGAN, 6 Calvin WHITNEY, 7 Daniel STYNES (15 Dejan SPASESKI 55’), 8 Sean TROUP (13 Nic TALIMDZIOSKI 45’), 9 Joe KNOWLES, 10 Sam MACKEARNAN (14 Jacob MUSTAFA 88’), 11 Kosta PETRATOS – Subs not used: RGK Riley STEPHENSON
Yellow Cards: Nil
