Perth Glory continued their impressive home record against Melbourne Victory with a 3-2 win at nib Stadium on Saturday night.
A brace to Diego Castro and a goal to the returning Andy Keogh proved to be enough to see off a gallant 10-man Victory side who had Fahid Ben Khalfallah controversially dismissed in the second half.
After a cagey opening, it was the home side who drew first blood in the 27th minute through Keogh. Thomas Deng misjudged an Ante Covic clearance and Keogh lobbed former Glory keeper Danny Vukovic who was caught in no-man’s land.
Keogh turned provider two minutes later when his low shot hit the post and rebounded to an unmarked Castro to tap into an empty net.
The Victory got a lifeline a minute before the break when Ben Khalfallah played in Berisha who turned quickly and found the bottom corner from close-range. Berisha then levelled the scores in the 69th minute when he headed home a Kosta Barbarouses corner.
While looking the more likely to find a winner, the Victory were dealt a huge blow when Ben Khalfallah was dismissed for lashing out at Shane Lowry, despite initially being issued with a yellow card for the incident.
Perth found the winner with eight minutes left on the clock when Nick Ansell was adjudged to have pushed Keogh in the back during an aerial duel. Castro stepped up, and with a panenka, coolly sent Vukovic the wrong way.
The result sees the Glory climb to seventh, now just four points outside the top six.
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Perth Glory
Ante Covic – 6: A reasonably uneventful night for the keeper. Made a sharp save and assisted the opening goal of the night. Not much he could have done about either goal.
Josh Risdon – 6.5: Solid performance from the skipper, kept direct opponent Ben Khalfallah quiet in a battle which was fiercely contested at times.
Alex Grant – 7: Made some crucial interceptions and blocks throughout the night. Unlucky to see his second half header rebound off the crossbar.
Shane Lowry – 7.5: An impressive debut for the former Aston Villa man.
Marc Warren – 6.5: Did a good job keeping Barbarouses quiet on the right.
Diogo Ferreira – 6.5: Solid, without being spectacular.
Gyorgy Sandor – 6.5: Goes under the radar, but does the simple things right to keep his team ticking over.
Nebojsa Marinkovic – 6: Drifts in and out of games quite often, but when he is involved, they usually impact the outcome of the match. This was the case here, combining well with Chris Harold to play a part in the second goal.
Chris Harold – 7: Looked sharp in the first half. Impact lessened as the game wore on.
Andy Keogh – 8: Scored one, set up another and won the penalty that sealed the points. Looks to be the player Perth have been missing.
Diego Castro – 8: Two goals today and linked up very well with Keogh.
Substitutes
Jamal Reiners – 4: Not enough time on the park to have an impact.
Mitchell Oxborrow – 5: Did a reasonable job keeping the ball moving against the 10 man Victory in his cameo appearance.
Richard Garcia – N/A: Came on in the 90th minute.
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