Brisbane Roar emerged 2-0 victors over Perth Glory as they ended a winless streak against the struggling Liberty A-League side.
Perth were undefeated in their past five matches against Brisbane (W4 D1) and had kept a clean sheet across their last four meetings in that span (W3 D1) – the Glory’s longest
unbeaten run against the Roar in the history of the competition.
But the Roar snapped that drought courtesy of first-half goals from Kijah Stephenson and Sharn Freier at Perry Park on Sunday.
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Already out of the finals race, the eighth-placed Roar – who beat the Glory for the first time since February 2021 – have now won back-to-back games, while 10th-placed Perth have now gone 11 matches without a victory.
The Glory stunned Melbourne City on the road in December but they have only won once since then – 2-1 away to Central Coast Mariners on New Year’s Eve.
Brisbane were on the front foot from the outset against a Glory side with a win since December.
Stephenson came within a whisker of putting the Roar ahead in the fourth minute after her shot hit the crossbar, while teammate Deborah-Anne De La Harpe’s long-range effort nine minutes later forced a save from Morgan Aquino.
Mia Corbin agonisingly watched her shot trickle towards the goal after the Roar striker beat Aquino to the ball in the 21st minute. Fortunately for Perth, the shot did not have enough power or direction as it stopped short of the line.
The Roar, though, did hit the front just past the half-hour mark at Perry Park, where Stephenson was gifted the ball just outside the penalty area and she dinked the ball into the net in an ice-cold moment.
Brisbane doubled their lead two minutes before half-time when Freier got on the end of a long ball played out of the back and beat Aquino at her near post.
Perth tried to reduce the deficit and spark a comeback in the second half, but the Roar were resolute and too good on home soil.
