Perth Glory ended a run of seven successive away defeats by seeing off a 10-man Melbourne City 3-1 at AAMI Park on Friday night.
Mitch Nichols and Xavi Torres scored either side of Ross McCormack’s stunning free-kick to set up a rare away win during an action-packed first half.
City were forced to battle with a numerical disadvantage for the second 45 minutes after Osama Malik was shown red for a challenge that led to Torres’ penalty.
And the obstacle proved too great to overcome as Mitch Mallia came off the bench to secure Perth’s third win in 19 road matches, and hand City a third loss in four outings.
STORY OF THE GAME
- Glory started the brighter and gained early reward through Nichols’ deflected opener.
- However, the visitors lost Andy Keogh to injury and had their lead erased when McCormack beat Liam Reddy with a wonderful free-kick.
- The contest took another turn when Malik was dismissed for a studs-up challenge on Jacob Italiano in the area and Torres converted the resultant spot-kick.
- Scott Jamieson and Marcin Budzinski both went close to restoring parity within 10 minutes of the restart.
- Despite their disadvantage, City were enjoying the run of play and introduced Tim Cahill off the bench with just over 20 minutes remaining.
- But their comeback was put to bed late in proceedings as Mallia completed the scoring on the counter-attack.
GOALS
Nichols, Perth Glory 12′: 0-1
Italiano and Keogh combined to work the ball to Nichols, whose shot from the edge of the area deflected off Michael Jakobsen and wrong-footed Eugene Galekovic.
McCormack, Melbourne City 31′: 1-1
Pure class from McCormack. From well outside the area, he bends a magnificent free-kick over the wall and just inside the left upright.
Torres, Perth Glory 43′: 1-2
The Spaniard sent Eugene Galekovic the wrong way from the spot after Malik was punished for a late, studs-up challenge on Italiano.
Mallia, Perth Glory 83′: 1-3
The substitute robbed Nick Fitzgerald of possession, strode clean through on goal and had time to pick his spot in the bottom left corner.
