A ten man Perth Glory have been beaten 1-0 by Sorrento in Week 4 of the PS4 NPL WA at the Ashfield Arena.
Glory defender Scott Robertson was sent off on 86 minutes, and a penalty in stoppage time from Sorrento’s Ryan Pearson sealed the win for the Gulls. Glory did have a number of chances to take something from the game but the boys in purple couldn’t convert.
Glory coach John Gibson said he was very disappointed with the result in a tough, physical contest.
“We were just okay today, we matched their (Sorrento) physicality for all of the game and were able to match them on many different levels,” he said.
“First half we didn’t stick to the game plan and did everything totally opposite to our normal game, leading to some obvious frustration.
“Half-time provides time to re-focus and provide further solutions and the second half was vastly different.”
Gibson said to lose it in stoppage time was really tough on the players.
“The group were absolutely gutted in changing rooms after the game, the result means something to this group,” he said.
“But we speak a lot about small details meaning something big, and we didn’t complete this to the 90+ minutes.
“Like always, we will be at training 6:00am on Monday morning, be positive and work even harder to be better.
“We move forward and continue the journey in next week’s game away to Armadale, it will be another opportunity and challenge for us to perform”.
Midfielder Daniel Stynes said to match it with a strong Sorrento team was a fantastic effort, but to lose it so late was a real disappointment.
“Everyone was devastated after the game, we have been in all our games this season and to loss it so late is a real body blow for us,” Stynes said.
“It was another very unfortunate game for us, we had chances to win the game, however when Scotty got sent off it changed the complexion of the game and we were on the back foot, and then it was unlucky with the penalty.
“But again we came up against a team who has a different style to us, who sat back against us and we struggled to break them down, so in that respect we’ve got to be more ruthless down both ends of the pitch.”
Glory skipper Calvin Whitney came back into the side after suspension, but it was Sorrento who had the first real opportunity of the match on the half hour. English striker Sean Canham scuffed a shot from close-range with the goal at his mercy.
The home side hit back and went close themselves six minutes later. Joe Knowles made space outside the penalty area, and cut inside his marker, but his shot was saved low by Sorrento keeper James Morgan.
Canham was causing all sorts of problems for the Glory defence, and he went close to putting Sorrento ahead before the break. The big striker got on the end of a low cross and his diving header crashed off the crossbar as the Glory defence scrambled the rebound away to safety.
Gibson’s half time address had a positive effect on the Glory and they started brightly, going close to the opener. Hayden Stevens’ cross picked out Stynes, whose shot drifted just wide of the target.
Both sides pressed looking for the winner and ten minutes from time, Glory had the perfect opportunity. Knowles got in behind the Sorrento back-line and went one-on-one with James Morgan, but a poor touch from the striker let him down and the Sorrento custodian was able to save at his feet.
The game took another twist on 86 minutes when Robertson was given a straight red card by Adam Fielding for high tackle on Alex Morgan, and it was then backs to the wall for the Glory youngsters.
It looked like they had held on for a hard fought point, but in the 92nd minute Pearson fell under a challenge from Sean Troup, and Fielding pointed straight to the spot. Pearson picked himself up to score from the resulting penalty to win for Sorrento.
Sorrento coach, and former Perth Glory great, Jamie Harnwell thought his side were capable of finding the winner even if Glory finished the match with 11 players.
“It obviously helps when they go down to 10 men but then they sat back behind the ball a little bit more and made it difficult for us,” Harnwell told the NPL WA website.
“However, we know this is a part of the game, but it was a bad tackle and we took advantage of it. We probably just lacked a little bit of quality in the final third but we kept pushing and I thought we got what we deserved in the end.”
Match Details
Perth Glory 0
Sorrento FC 1 (Pearson 92min)
Saturday, April 9, 2016
Ashfield Arena
Kick-off: 3:00pm
Referee: Adam Fielding
Assistant Referees: Amit Hosany and Zac Piccicacco
Perth Glory: GK Jordan THURTELL, 2 Gian ALBANO, 3 Hayden STEVENS, 4 Scott ROBERTSON, 5 Ross MILLARD, 6 Calvin WHITNEY, 7 Jackson MORGAN (15 Walieden ISMAIL 83’), 8 Sean TROUP, 9 Joseph KNOWLES, 10 Sam MCKEARNEN, 11 Daniel STYNES
Subs not used: RGK Riley STEPHENSON, 12 Cam MURRAY, 13 Lossene DULLEH, 14 Jack LEACH
Yellow cards: Knowles 86’, Whitney 87’
Red cards: Robertson 86’
Sorrento FC: Sorrento: GK James MORGAN, 6 Daryl PLATTEN, 8 Ryan PEARSON, 9 Sean CANHAM (5 Billy QUINNCROFT 80’), 10 Scott BULLOCH (25 Todd HARNWELL 65’), 11 Tim HILL, 13 Steven MCDONALD, 15 Alex MORGAN (3 Danny CAIN 88’), 18 Jordan BROWN, 20 Brad MCDONALD, 21 Jordan DODD
Subs not used: RGK Sam HERBISON, 22 Alen PATAROV,
Yellow cards: nil
Red cards: nil
