A Mile Sterjovski penalty has allowed Perth Glory to snatch a 1-0 win over the Newcastle Jets in their Round 8 Hyundai A-League clash at EnergyAustralia Stadium on Friday night.
In an almost carbon copy performance of last week’s loss to Sydney, Newcastle dominated possession and territory but were unable to take advantage of some golden goal-scoring opportunities in each half and were eventually brought undone when goalkeeper Ben Kennedy pulled down Sterjovski in the penalty area in an attack against the run of play late in the match.
It was the third consecutive loss for Newcastle, while it was Perth’s fourth win from its last six matches, the three points propelling the Glory into equal top spot with the rest of the round to play.
Newcastle coach Branko Culina was noticeably despondent after the match.
“It was even worse than last week, because at least Sydney had a few digs at us, I don’t think Perth even had a shot,” he said.
“From our point of view, we are obviously disappointed but we don’t know whether to laugh or cry because when you dominate a game like we did there, you expect to get something out of it.”
Despite the match being played before a disappointing crowd of 4738 the home side started brightly. Midfielder Jin-Hyung Song should have scored in the 8th minute of the match after Kaz Patafta threaded his way down the right wing before sliding a pass into the area for Song, who fired his shot into the arms of Glory goalkeeper Tando Velaphi.
Patafta spurned a golden opportunity a few moments later after he battled his way through three players inside the area only to slice his shot wide of the posts from 12 yards out.
After absorbing the early pressure, Perth eventually worked its way into the game with Mile Sterjovski and Branko Jelic pressing forward and forcing a number of corners. But the Newcastle defence held firm and the home side finished the half in the ascendancy.
Newcastle striker Labinot Haliti, who had been causing the Perth defence some headaches with his pace, fired in a low left-footed shot that bounced off the left post before Song fired his header over the bar form close range to leave the score 0-0 at the break.
The Jets continued where they left off and did nearly all of the pressing while Perth was content to attack on the counter during the second period.
Newcastle skipper Matt Thompson fired wide from the edge of the area before Song again missed a good chance when put into space by Fabio Vignaoli. Nikolai Topor-Stanley also headed wide from a couple of set pieces.
The Glory grabbed the winner, though, against the run of play in the 80th minute when Victor Skiora slid through a good ball for Sterjovski, who sprinted into the penalty area before being brought down by Newcastle goalkeeper Ben Kennedy, who was late getting off his line.
Referee Matthew Breeze pointed to the spot and Sterjovski stepped up to drill the ball off the underside of the crossbar to give Perth the lead.
The home side threw everyone into attack in the remaining minutes but was unable to pull out an equaliser as Perth held on to collect a hard-fought away win and continue its charge up the Hyundai A-League table.
“There have been many times where we have played well and not won, so when it comes your way we will take it, especially away from home,” Perth Glory coach Dave Mitchell said after the match.
“It is nice to get two wins away from home, (but) two wins we probably didn’t deserve.”
Newcastle Jets 0
Perth Glory 1 (Sterjovski 81p)
Crowd 4738 at EnergyAustralia Stadium
