Perth Glory have finished their difficult season on a high, defeating Brisbane Roar 2-1 in a physical clash at HBF Park.
It was a night for second generation A-Leagues players to shine, with Gabriel Popović and Sebastian Despotovski on the score sheet for the Glory and the Roar’s Dimitri Valkanis having a heavy influence on Matt Sutton’s own goal.
Roar defender Marius Lode conceded a an early penalty for a handball, Popović converting the penalty with a stutter-step that rooted keeper Dean Bouzanis to the spot.
The Roar were forced into an early substitution when Noah Maieroni went down clutching his hip, Jay O’Shea sent on to replace him at the base of midfield.
Perth had another penalty inside the first half hour when Despotovski was brought down in the area by Youstin Salas.
Despotovski was setting up to take the spot kick before Nicholas Pennington pulled rank, took the penalty and sent his kick into the crossbar, keeping the score at 1-0.
The Roar had a penalty shout of their own minutes later when O’Shea went down under pressure from Giovanni De Abreu, but the referee waved away their protests.
Perth keeper Sutton pulled out a terrific diving save in the 66th minute to deny Justin Vidić before Valkanis had his follow up effort blocked away for a corner.
Brisbane scored from the resulting corner, Valkanis out-jumping Matt Sutton to deflect the ball in with the back of his head and bringing the Roar back level.
Perth full back Josh Risdon was brought on with 15 minutes of play to go, the former Socceroo being given the captain’s armband for the end of his final match before retiring from professional football.
Despotovski grabbed the lead back for Perth in the 76th minute with a powerful effort from the edge of the area.
Vidić had the ball in the net with a tap-in for another Brisbane equaliser, but it was disallowed for Niall Thom being offside in the build-up.
Adam Taggart nearly made it three for Perth on the full-time whistle, Anthony Didulica’s blocked shot spilled to the Socceroo striker, but Valkanis did well do block the shot with his head.
The win for the Glory brings them into a finishing place of 10th, with Brisbane finishing in 11th.
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
Perth Glory goal: Popović 8′
Brisbane Roar goal: Sutton O.G 65′
Perth Glory goal: Despotovski 76′
