Perth Glory have stunned Brisbane Roar for the second-straight week, recording a 1-0 Liberty A-League win at Perry Park on Friday night.
The result though was damped by the prospect of another injury to star attacker Lisa De Vanna.
A week on from grabbing two late goals to steal a 2-1 win in Perth, Alana Jancevski’s 86th-minute strike took a wicked deflection off Mariel Hecher to completely wrongfoot keeper Georgina Worth and secure the win for Glory – making it two wins from two after they broke a 651-day winless drought in week one.
Glory are scheduled to face Canberra United in Perth next Saturday, although that may change in the face of continued border restrictions in West Australia. Still winless, the Roar will host Melbourne Victory on the same day.
Again fulfilling their coach’s mission statement of fighting to the final whistle, the only mark against Alex Epakis’ side came in the form of another potential injury to their star attacker.
Six days after pulling up lame and being forced off the field, De Vanna was carried off by trainers just before halftime on Friday night after pulling out of a sprint holding her hamstring. Epakis would later tell Network Ten that the 37-year-old was suffering from a cramp.
“I think it’s OK but I guess we’ve just got to wait and see,” Epakis said.
“We don’t know what’s happening for us next in terms of our next fixtures so maybe, fingers crossed, a couple of weeks off might be great for her.
“But we just showed that players coming off the bench and doing their job, it’s a good place to be.”
The Matildas legend would return to Glory’s bench to provide vocal support in the second half.
Despite having the majority of possession and outshooting their foes 20 to eight, Brisbane struggled to create clear-cut goalscoring chances throughout the 90 minutes. The Glory perhaps unlucky not to be up at halftime after chances to Sofia Sakalis and Hana Lowry.
The addition of Katrina Gorry in the second half did give Roar a spark, but in the end coach Garrath McPherson’s side found themselves the victim of a late sucker-punch two weeks in a row.
