Perth Glory was caught off guard with Melbourne Victory’s attacking set up on Friday night, but Glory coach Dave Mitchell was delighted his side came away with a 2-1 win.
Perth has won its last two games at home over Newcastle and Melbourne, following away losses to Adelaide and Wellington to start the season. The Victory was clearly out for goals with five attackers, but the Glory got the opening goal in the fifth minute only for the Victory to reply in the ninth.
Melbourne had plenty of chances after that, but the Glory sealed the win when Branko Jelic scored his second in the 54th minute. Mitchell was particularly impressed with goalkeeper Tando Velaphi.
“We were trying to work out what their team was going to be and we were a bit cautious of putting the team up on the board in case we got it wrong. It was surprising what they did, but it’s a credit to them and tactically they played well,” Mitchell said.
“On another day they might have capitalised on it a little better, but Tando Velaphi was outstanding in not only his saving of shots, but reading of the game knowing when to come out of the box.”
The Glory made a conscious effort after half-time to get their wide players to tuck in better, close down Billy Celeski and limit the space Melbourne was getting. That worked well and Mitchell believes it showed character that his team withstood Melbourne’s attack.
“In previous years we would have conceded one or two more goals in the first half when we were getting well beaten, but it’s a credit to the boys for working their socks off,” he said.
“The effort and desire was there, but the smarts weren’t because we weren’t picking certain players up who were causing problems. We regrouped at half-time and went out with a better attitude.”
While Brazilian midfielder Amaral returned as a guest player and showed some good signs after coming on in the 79th minute, a hamstring injury to Mile Sterjovski is of some concern for the Glory.
He might miss Friday’s game at Canberra Stadium against Central Coast, but Mitchell knows how important it is to start winning away.
“We have to wait and see if the scans show there is a tear there or not. It was more precautionary, though, and he was starting to stiffen up and didn’t want to tear it,” he said.
“We are strong at home and it’s great that the champions came and we defeated them. We just have to improve our away form and that’s something we’ve set as a goal to get better at.”
Mitchell was delighted to see Jelic pick up his first two Hyundai A-League goals in the win, and after his first meeting with him he always knew he would bring goals with him.
“In the first conversation I had with Branko I asked him what he position he played, and he told me he’s a goal scorer. That was music to my ears,” he said.
“I think we’ll be a slow burner throughout the year and will keep getting better. Branko proved that here and he’s feeling good about how we want to play, and capitalised with a couple of good goals.”
Jelic scored his first two goals after a long career professional career in Yugoslavia, Serbia and Montenegro, China and Germany, and says he has always had that attacking instinct.
“I have long career so I have scored all types of goals, but I am a real attack player and keep going to where the ball goes,” Jelic said.
“Both goals were because of my instinct and after the first one I wasn’t sure if I scored or didn’t, thought maybe I was a little offside, but luckily I wasn’t. I’m happy because we won and my two goals helped the whole team.”
