Roar sneak past Glory

Brisbane Roar consigned Perth Glory to their third straight defeat with a 1-0 win in an underwhelming Australia Day A-League match.

Brisbane Roar consigned Perth Glory to their third straight defeat with a 1-0 win in an underwhelming Australia Day A-League match at nib Stadium.

The result means Perth drop to ninth place and could be equal bottom with Wellington Phoenix by the end of the weekend, but are only two points adrift of the top six.

Brisbane move into seventh ahead of Sydney FC on goal difference, one point behind Melbourne and Newcastle.

Both teams limped into the match without key players with only eight of the starting 22 involved in last year’s grand final.

Perth were without skipper Jacob Burns, striker Shane Smeltz and Dean Heffernan while Brisbane missed their own captain Matthew Smith, Besart Berisha, Erik Paartalu and Henrique.

Perth had created the early chances but were stunned in the 15th minute when James Meyer blasted a powerful 30-yard, left-footed strike low and hard past Danny Vukovic into the bottom corner.

In an uneventful first half, the Glory controlled the first 20 minutes and squandered a couple of golden chances before Brisbane worked their way back into the match and had three shots to Perth’s seven, but 54 percent of the possession.

Travis Dodd wasted Perth’s first and best chance of the game in the ninth minute when he got on the end of Scott Jamieson’s cross and put his side-footed shot tamely wide of the goal.

Shortly after, Steve Pantelidis failed to make clean contact from the edge of the 16-yard box from a low, whipped corner when he was left unmarked.

Brisbane had three shots on target for the first half, but none seriously challenged Vukovic other than Meyer’s long-range strike.

Perth had appeals for a penalty waved away by referee Alan Milliner in the 53rd minute when Chris Harold was brought down after he was sandwiched between two Roar defenders.

Nick Ward should have put Perth back on terms soon after when Michael Theo came for a ball outside of the box and was left stranded out of his goal.

Ward blasted his shot high over the bar with only Massimo Murdocca on the goal line to stop the shot.

Luke Brattan came close to doubling the Roar’s lead in the 74th minute from a dead-ball situation when he forced Vukovic to tip the shot over the bar.

Thomas Broich cleared a Ryo Nagai header off the line deep in regular time after Michael Theo had just saved another close range Ward shot.

Perth Glory 0
Brisbane Roar 1 (Meyer 15)
Bet365.com Man of the Match: Jack Clisby No one really stood out in thie tepid affair, so we’ll give a nod to the youngster who made his debut.