Melbourne’s National Youth League side scored twice in the second half to defeat the Perth Glory 2-0 on a warm Saturday evening at BCG Stadium.
In an end-to-end contest throughout, Dmitri Hatzimouratis opened the scoring for the visitors seven minutes into the second half before Aziz Behich doubled the advantage and consolidated the win in the 79th minute.
An inexperienced Glory side was far from disgraced, though, pressuring the visitors for the entire 90 minutes. But they struggled to break down Melbourne’s defence, led by the experienced Steven Pace and solid Robert Wynne.
The result sees the Glory remain in fourth position on the National Youth League table, while Melbourne’s fourth win in a row takes it into fifth with the former whipping boys of the competition appearing to have gelled nicely in the latter parts of the campaign.
The opening stages saw Melbourne control possession but fail to create effective goal scoring opportunities, with Behich wasting his side’s best chance in the eighth minute, sending a powerful effort over the bar from just outside the box.
The Glory gradually asserted some control through the middle, led by a brilliant performance from Hayden Doyle who was swung into the midfield from defence and shone in the more creative role in tandem with right back Ryan Pearson.
In the 17th minute Glory striker Anthony Skorich forced a comfortable save from Melbourne’s Mitch Langerak before Pearson slipped a shot narrowly wide just before the half hour.
In the 35th minute, Doyle produced the Glory’s best chance, firing in a stinging curling strike from 20 metres that grazed the crossbar, while Howard Fondyke struck the woodwork just before the break, flicking Steve Hesketh’s cross into the right upright before the danger was cleared by Pace.
Melbourne made the most of the let-offs, opening the scoring in the 52nd minute through the lively Hatzimouratis who controlled a good ball from Behich before wickedly hooking it into the top left-hand corner from 15 metres.
The Glory upped the intensity as they sought an equaliser, Hesketh forcing a good save from reserve Melbourne goalkeeper Sebastian Mattei on the hour, with Pearson slipping the ball wide six minutes later as he was expertly crowded out by Melbourne’s defence while advancing on goal.
As Perth attacked, the Victory showed they were dangerous on the break when Tedros Yabio fired wide in the 75th minute.
But the Glory didn’t heed the warning and a fast break from the Victory in the 79th minute ended with Behich prodding the ball in from close range after taking a low cross from the right by Craig Sweeney.
Match Details
Perth Glory 0
Melbourne Victory 2 (Aziz Behich 52-, Dimitri Hatzimouratis 74-)
Saturday 10 January 2008
BGC Stadium at Dorrien Gardens, Perth
Referee: Steven Gregory
Assistant Referees: Josh Mannella & Josh Mihevc
Fourth Official: Tim Mihevc
Perth Glory line-up: 1.Alex PEARSON (gk) (40.Devon SPENCER (gk) 60-), 2.Ryan PEARSON, 3.Steven HESKETH, 4.Lewis HALL, 5.Hayden DOYLE (15.Cameron EDWARDS 57-), 6.Dean EVANS, 7.James SAMMUT (10.Adam LUCA 57-), 8.Howard FONDYKE (5.Hayden DOYLE 71-), 9.Anthony SKORICH (14.Joshua RIDSON 60-), 11.Ludovic BOI, 12.Reece VITTIGLIA.
Yellow Cards: Lewis Hall 82-/84-
Red Cards: Lewis Hall 84-
Melbourne Victory line-up: 1.Mitchell LANGERAK (gk) (20.Sebastian MATTEI (gk) 46-), 2.Robert WYNNE, 3.Steven PACE (OA), 4.Matthew FOSCHINI, 5.Fabio DI LIZIA, 6.Evan BERGER (14.Mifit BOJKU 46-), 7.Aziz BEHICH, 8. Stephen HATIZKOSTAS (15.Craig SWEENEY 46-), 9.Mathew THEODORE, 10.Nathan ELASI (11. Dimitri HATZIMOURATIS 74-), 11. Dimitri HATZIMOURATIS (12.Tedros YABIO 60-).
Yellow Cards: Evan Berger 26-
Red Cards: Robert Wynne 50-
