Perth has secured a 2-0 National Youth League victory over Adelaide United on Boxing Day at Members Equity Stadium to remain in the hunt for a grand final spot.
In a spirited game in the lead up to the Hyundai A-League match, both sides were down to 10 men but it was the Glory that found the back of the net twice for the crucial win.
After an even first half, Steven Hesketh and James Sammut got in behind the Adelaide defence in the second half to score the only two goals of the game.
The win keeps the Glory in touch with the top-two, but it will need to keep winning in the run home to qualify for the grand final. Perth is now five points behind second-placed Queensland.
Despite the loss, Adelaide remains in third spot and still a chance of making the grand final playoff. With a game in hand, the Reds are four points behind Queensland.
The Glory had the best chances in a relatively even first half and began to create better opportunities the longer it went.
In the 33rd minute, Mark Lee had a tremendous chance to put the home side up, but couldn’t capitalise and his effort was repeated 10 minutes later by Andrija Jukic, who put a shot on goal well over the crossbar.
Adelaide’s Joel Allwright got in behind Perth’s defence 15 minutes into the second half and had one attempted shot blocked by a defender who got back, but was still able to get another shot off that was stopped by goalkeeper Dejan Aleksic.
It proved to be Aleksic’s last action of the game as he was replaced by Alex Pearson in goals soon after.
The wait for a goal was ended in the 64th minute when Perth’s Hesketh was played in to a one-on-one situation with Adelaide ‘keeper Lucas Andreucci. He handled it well to guide it into the back of the net for his first National Youth League goal.
Neither team threatened over the next 20 minutes, but both went down a man. The Glory was the first when Ludovic Boi was sent off by referee Steven Gregory in the 68th minute following a crude tackle.
Adelaide’s Shane Tobias then showed plenty of displeasure with the linesman’s call on a throw-in to receive a yellow, and earned a second when he kept on at the referee.
The Glory secured the win in the final minute of extra time when Sammut was also left one-on-one with the Adelaide shot stopper, and calmly dribbled it home.
Match Details
Perth Glory 2 (Steven HESKETH 64-, James SAMMUT 93-)
Adelaide United 0
Friday 26 December
Members Equity Stadium
Local kick off 5.15pm (7.15pm AEDT)
Referee: Steven Gregory
Assistant Referees: Tim Mihevc, Trent Fleskens
Fourth Official: Troy Miller
Perth Glory line up: 1.Dejan ALEKSIC (gk) (40.Alex PEARSON (gk) 60-), 2.Ryan PEARSON, 3.Scott NEVILLE, 5.Steven HESKETH (12.Reece VITTIGLIA 77-), 6.Dean EVANS, 11.Ludovic BOI, 12.Reece VITTIGLIA (9.Anthony SKORICH 54-), 13.Andrija JUKIC, 15.Scott BULLOCH (OA) (18.Mark LEE 65-), 18.Mark LEE (OA) (7.James SAMMUT 60-), 19.Dino DJULBIC (OA) (4.Liam HARVEY 50-).
Substitutes not used: Nil.
Yellow cards: Dean EVANS 36-, Ludovic BOI 41-/66-, Ryan PEARSON 42-, Scott BULLOCH 63-, Anthony SKORICH 87-.
Red Cards: Ludovic BOI 66-.
Adelaide United line up: 40.Lucas ANDREUCCI (gk), 2.Michael DOYLE, 3.Scott WEIDENBACH (8.Matthew MULLEN 68-), 4.Michael MARRONE, 5.Shane TOBIAS, 6.Alex SUNASKY, 7.Joel ALLWRIGHT, 8.Matthew MULLEN (21.Joseph COSTA 60-), 9.Andrew CIARLA (16.Michael DE BONO 54-), 10.Osama MALIK, 13.Paul AGOSTINO (OA) (15.Francesco MONTEROSSO 60-).
Substitutes not used: 30.Tommi TOMICH.
Yellow cards: Shane TOBIAS 79-/79-.
Red Cards: Shane TOBIAS 79-.
