1 – Season 2012-13 – Melbourne Victory defeat Perth Glory 2-1 (AET) at Etihad Stadium
Hands down the best opening round final of the past decade saw Perth Glory eliminated in gut-wrenching fashion for the second year in a row. While many fans will still protest the nature of this one, they really have no one to blame but themselves for not closing out the game when given the opportunity. Ryo Nagai scored to put the visitors up after a quarter of an hour with a clever redirect into the goal off his chest. Shane Smeltz had chances to bury the Victory throughout the second half but was off target.
Mark Milligan took down Scott Jamieson in the 88th minute with a fairly innocuous challenge that probably did not need to be made and Smeltz had the chance to end the game then and there. Instead, the normally reliable marksman rifled his shot off the crossbar and a follow-up header was looped over. The Victory went down the other end and midfielder Andrew Nabbout was brought down very easily by Steve Pantelidis after what could have been called a hand ball on Nabbout. Pantelidis was shown a second yellow and dismissed before Mark Milligan stepped up and scored. Danny Vukovic was unable to save a critical penalty for the second year in a row and extra time beckoned.
Archie Thompson scored a diving header early on in extra time to give the Victory the lead. Perth could have felt hard done by after being denied a fairly clear penalty during the extra period, however at the end of the day, they will only be blaming themselves after missing that penalty in the second half of normal time. The Victory would be eliminated the following week by the eventual champions Central Coast Mariners.
Will we see another classic this week? Is there a game you would have included? Let us know.
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