Perth Glory has consolidated its place in the top six and all but ended a ragged Adelaide United’s finals aspirations with a courageous come-from-behind 3-2 victory at Hindmarsh Stadium on Tuesday.
The Glory trailed 2-0 early in the second half but when Reds defender Iain Fyfe received a red card and was sent off they, took advantage of the player mismatch to score three goals in 15 minutes.
Earlier United took the lead through a lucky Lucas Pantelis goal in the 13th minute and then doubled the advantage when Travis Dodd scored for the third time in as many matches in the 53rd minute.
Pantelis, who was closing in on the touchline when he collected the ball on the left hand side, went to cross the ball into penalty box.
His kick went finer than everyone expected and cleared Glory goalkeeper Tando Velaphi before rebounding off the right post and through for a score.
It was vintage Dodd in the second half, with the Reds skipper stealing the ball off Jamie Coyne in the attacking third and coolly pushing the ball past Velaphi’s left leg.
The 8904 crowd was in celebration mode but was quickly silenced when Fyfe received his marching orders for bringing down Mile Sterjovski and were then stunned when Burns scored the visitors’ first.
The Perth skipper took the free kick within the ‘D’, beating the defensive wall and sending the ball sailing into the top right-hand corner of the net.
With an extra man on the pitch, Perth went on the attack and Adelaide went to water.
Burns found space in the box and had the poise to finish again while a match-winning opportunity opened up for McBreen when Mark Rudan failed to clear.
Despite being thrashed 6-2 by Melbourne last Saturday night, Perth’s impressive response now sees the Western Australians hold a four-point buffer over seventh-placed Central Coast, while the Reds are destined to finish last with some tough games ahead.
Glory coach Dave Mitchell thought his side had lost the match when Dodd scored the Reds’ second goal, but said the Fyfe ‘send-off’ sparked the comeback.
“We scored from the free kick which gave us that confidence and then we were brave enough to make some changes and it worked out,” Mitchell said.
“We went to three at the back and then we pushed a few players up front … and we tried to create as many chances as we could because we wanted to get back into the game.”
“Great character, great team performance and we really deserved it.”
Reds coach Aurelio Vidmar agreed it was one of the more heart-breaking matches in his coaching career.
“Even at 2-0 we knew they were still going to come at us but I certainly felt that red card changed the state of the game in the second half absolutely,” Vidmar said.
After Adelaide scored early, the speed of youngster Mathew Leckie proved an ongoing concern for the Glory in the first half. Adriano Pellegrino collected a yellow card trying to restrict the teenager, while a couple of midfield bursts from Leckie left the opposition looking flat footed.
It wasn’t one-way traffic however, with Perth giving Adelaide some nervous moments in defence.
Half-an-hour into the clash, McBreen got to within striking distance of the goals and forced Galekovic to leave the safety of the penalty box. But neither he nor his team-mates could get a genuine shot away while the home side’s structure was disrupted.
Captain Jacob Burns and Pellegrino also pulled the trigger from long range during the half but were off target and in the 39th minute Todd Howarth’s effort was flicked away by Galekovic.
The Glory came out firing after the break, with Jamie Coyne getting the first shot on target while new-signing Steven McGarry tested Galekovic on his Glory debut.
But after Dodd gave the hosts a two-goal buffer Perth produced a goal flurry of its own and if some scorching Andrija Jukic strikes had been successful, the margin would have been greater.
A frustrated Adelaide lost the plot and when Pantelis received a red card in injury time, the home side mentally shot as a season that promised much slipped away.
Adelaide United 2 (Pantelis 13, Dodd 53)
Perth Glory 3 (Burns 62, 69, McBreen 77)
Crowd: 8,904 at Hindmarsh Stadium
