Perth Glory ended a dreadful week with a spirited 3-1 win over Melbourne City at nib Stadium on Sunday.
City looked the more threatening of the two sides early and dominated the majority of play, with several chances falling to both David Williams and Harry Novillo. Despite having a number of shots on target, they were denied by some fine shot-stopping from Perth goalkeeper Danny Vukovic.
Perth landed the first blow when Jamie Maclaren found the net just before half-time before Melbourne defender Paulo Retre was given two yellow cards in as many minutes, leaving the Melburnians in a shambles.
Aaron Mooy equalised for the visitors shortly after the break with a beautiful free kick before Maclaren netted twice, earning himself a hat-trick.
City’s away woes continue
With the finals looming, John van’t Schip’s men will need to find a quick fix to their dreadful away record having won just one game in their last seven appearances away from AAMI Park. The result won’t hurt City too much as they are guaranteed to finish in the top six with just one game remaining in the home and away season.
The loss away to Perth means the Melburnians trail the Glory five-one on a head-to-head basis at nib Stadium, a deficit that, before the match, looked likely to be shortened. Today was possibly City’s best chance to win away from home since beating Sydney FC last month, but a wasteful Melbourne side was unable to improve its away record.
Perth showed heart
After a horror week with club CEO Jason Brewer tendering his resignation, as well as Football Federation Australia handing the Glory a third show cause notice regarding their salary cap breaches,
Perth showed plenty of spirit in a dead rubber. The few fans that did make it to the stadium were treated to a performance reminiscent of the first half of their season.
Maclaren, having only started a handful of times this season capped off his home campaign with a wonderful hat-trick. The performance should give him great confidence for the last round of the Western Australian side’s season, having been removed from the upcoming finals series, and beyond.
Melburnians lacking killer instinct
Despite having 11 shots on target (compared to Perth’s five) and 20 in total, City were able to score only once against the Glory.
https://youtu.be/EoiMjSFuzn8
Harry Novillo was presented with a plethora of scoring opportunities during Melbourne’s early dominance but was denied time and time again by a fantastic display from Vukovic. His fellow attacker Williams also squandered a number of chances, the best of them being a one-on-one situation with the Glory keeper. The ball became stuck between his feet before Williams blazed it high.
City are capable of troubling the top four sides in the finals series and doing some damage, but only if they bring the killer instinct they have shown at home this season to their finals campaign.
Oxborrow and Maclaren are Glory’s future
Perth midfielder Mitchell Oxborrow, aged 20, was handed a rare start and showed great promise for a large period of the match before being replaced by Chris Harold in the 78th minute. His role in midfield provided the likes of Maclaren ample opportunity and contributed largely to the young striker’s first hat-trick for the club.
With a number of Perth players expected to leave the club at the season’s conclusion, Glory fans should hope that these two hang around and become a part of the next generation of their club’s players.
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