Perth see off late challenge from ten-man Victory to end six game winless run

Perth Glory returned to winning ways on Sunday night, edging past a ten-man Melbourne Victory outfit to record a drought-snapping 2-1 triumph at HBF Park.

Victory were reduced to ten early in the second half after a dangerous Nick Ansell challenge on Callum Timmins, and Perth took full advantage by pulling two goals clear within ten minutes of the Victory defender’s dismissal.

Rudy Gestede pegged one back for the visitors in the 79th minute, but that was all Victory could muster as Perth took three points from an A-League contest for the first time since March 27.

Robbie Kruse missed an early spot kick for the away side, saved by Liam Reddy after Timmins handled Gestede’s bicycle kick attempt in the 23rd minute of play. The two sides went into the break with scores locked at 0-0 before Ansell’s red card changed the game just minutes after the restart.

Bruno Fornaroli put the home team ahead with a simple finish created by a neat piece of interplay between Diego Castro and Ciaran Bramwell off the left flank. Glory doubled the advantage after a Carlo Armiento cross off the opposite wing found Chris Ikonomidis in space to volley a tidy finish past Victory ‘keeper Matt Acton to send Perth to the cusp of three much-needed points.

But Victory made it interesting with a little over ten minutes to play, after Kruse lashed a shot off the woodwork which fell into the lap of Gestede to bundle the ball over the line and tee up a tense finish to the contest at HBF Park.

But the ten-men of Victory were unable to snatch a point on the road, as the tenth-placed Glory moved further away from the bottom two and closer to Wellington Phoenix in ninth.

Key Moments

Melbourne Victory squandered the chance to go a goal up in the first half when Gestede sent Kruse to the penalty spot after winning a penalty off Timmins, who left an arm outstretched as he looked to defend the Victory forward’s bicycle kick but handled the ball in the process.

Kruse attempted to bury the ball into the bottom right corner but Reddy guessed the right way, getting a strong left glove to the shot to keep his opponent off the scoresheet.

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Fornaroli would eventually put his side into the lead in the second half, but in the first 45 the Uruguayan could have made it 1-0 if not for the superb glove-work of Acton in goal for the visitors.

The Victory gloveman got across to meet a strong shot from Fornaroli dispatched from the right-hand side of the 18-yard box. Fornaroli cut to his right to find space between Dylan Ryan’s legs to shoot, but Acton spotted the danger and saved with aplomb.

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An Ansell red card early in the second half changed the game for Victory, as the away side were left with ten men to scrap for points with more than 40 minutes left on the clock.

Ansell saw red for a challenge on Timmins, as the two went in for a 50/50 challenge in the middle of the park. Ansell won the ball, but came into the challenge with his studs raised. The contact on Timmins was forceful enough for Ansell to be dismissed with a straight red card.

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Perth were quick to capitalise on Victory’s one-man deficiency. Just minutes after Ansell departed, Fornaroli got the first goal of the night on the board. Castro was the main creator in a move in which Bramwell offered a deft flick off a one-two with the Spaniard to send his teammate in on goal.

Castro looked up to find Fornaroli in space, and cut the ball back to the Glory forward to tuck the ball home.

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Ikonomidis got in on the scoring act in the 56th minute, making it 2-0 with a well-hit volley which matched the precision of the ball into the box from Armiento.

Bramwell had just seen a shot from the edge of the box tipped away by Acton, but the danger was far from over for the travelling side. Armiento gathered the ball in the aftermath to touch it past Victory defender Storm Roux and collect once more, firing a cross off the left wing to Ikonomidis at the back post.

Ikonomidis’ composed finish saw the ball sneak past Acton’s near post on the volley as Perth built a commanding lead.

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But Victory were not willing to let Perth wrap up the three points with any sense of comfort.

A late Gestede goal cut the home side’s lead in half, and with 11 minutes to play set up a nerve-wracking end to the game for Richard Garcia’s team.

Gestede didn’t know much about the finish, which came after Kruse’s well-hit strike from outside the box beat Reddy but rattled off the woodwork. The ball fell to Gestede on the rebound, who stuck a thigh forward to help it back toward goal and over the line.

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