Wellington’s Emma Rolston and Perth’s Ella Mastrantonio received red cards as Glory defeated Phoenix 2-0 in a fiery Liberty A-League clash.
Both teams were reduced to 10 women in the 35th minute of Sunday’s game at Macedonia Park as the hosts prolonged Wellington’s winless start to the season.
A prone Rolston was repeatedly hacked in the legs by her Glory opponent while retaining the ball after being brought down in a challenge.
Rolston sprung to her feet and responded with a shove to the throat of Mastrantonio, who raised her arms in disbelief after both players were sent off.
Mastrantonio appeared to have little cause for complaint given she had also dragged her opponent by the hair during the fracas.
The altercation added spice to a game largely controlled by the hosts.
Hana Lowry’s fingerprints were all over Glory’s powerful start and her through ball set up a strong Cyera Hintzen finish from outside the box in the sixth minute.
Lowry was brought down clumsily by Mackenzie Barry in the penalty box on 14 minutes and Susan Phonsongkham converted to double Glory’s lead.
Brianna Edwards did well to palm away a tight-angled shot after Lowry found space in the box again minutes later.
With fleet-flooted Paige Satchell an early standout, the visitors regrouped and made some searching attacking forays but struggled to break through Glory’s well-organised defence.
Perth had eight shots on target to Wellington’s two and would have extended their lead after halftime but for some sharp saves by Edwards, whose counterpart Sarah Langman denied Ava Pritchard in the dying minutes to keep a clean sheet.
Glory coach Alex Epakis was pleased to see his side come away with a second win for the season despite not sustaining their first-half dominance.
“A third goal would have definitely killed the game off,” he said.
“We may have stepped the gas off, or maybe we were just smarter without the ball and how we positioned ourselves.”
Perth climb to eighth on the ladder and won’t play again until February 4 due to the rescheduling of their game against Sydney FC.
Centre back Kim Carroll was feted by the Glory faithful after making her 150th league appearance, placing her among the competition’s most capped players.
Phoenix coach Natalie Lawrence said her side had struggled with a punishing travel burden, with the journey to Perth totalling almost 13 hours including a Melbourne stopover.
“I don’t think there’s many players in the world that travel this far,” she said.
“The guys worked it out that this is the furthest anyone in female professional football travels for an in-league away game, so we knew that the travel was going to be tough.”
Lawrence said the side’s New Zealand representatives would all be available for Wellington’s clash with Canberra next Sunday after joining the Football Ferns camp for two friendlies against the United States.
