Brisbane Roar 2-0 Perth Glory
By Ben Carey at Perry Park (24/3/24).
Above: Brisbane Roar celebrate after Kijah Stephenson scores the opening goal. Photo: Brisbane Roar.
Brisbane Roar thrashed Perth Glory on Sunday, giving the locals something to celebrate on a very wet and dreary afternoon in the “Sunshine State”. There was a surprisingly good turnout, almost filling the stands, as has become common place this season, but very few people around the field, whereas its usually packed on sunny days now. Brisbane and Perth both started the season very strongly, but almost mirrored each other in their fall from the upper echelons of the table in the second half of the season.Both teams were now out of contention for finals, but there wasstill table position and pride to play for!
It was a frantic opening half an hour with big chances up both ends of the pitch. Roar had the better of the chances though. Their ball control and passing were excellent, and their high press put a lot of pressure on the Glory defence. The relentless Roar attack started to expose chinks in the Glory armour. Around the 20-minute mark, Brisbane forward, Mia Corbin, caught out Glory goalkeeper, Morgan Aquino, and got a shot off on goals, but it didn’t have enough pace and faded just wide of the goals before a defender cleared it. But the warning signs were definitely there for the Glory.
Just after 30 minutes had passed, Brisbane finally broke through, capitalising on a mistake from Perth. As the result of the constant Roar pressure, a Glory midfielder made a horrible pass back to Aquino but did not see the run of the very pacey Kijah Stephenson, who got to the ball ahead of the onrushing Aquino and chipped it nonchalantly over her head, Sam Kerr style, to give Brisbane the go-ahead goal. Stephenson is making a very good case to be a mainstay in the Roar starting lineup, if they are lucky enough to keep her for another season.
Much to the joy of the local fans, the first half heroics did not finish there. Exactly 10 minutes later, a phenomenal ball from Jenna McCormick, who was about four meters behind halfway, floated all the way up the field and found the Sharn Freier on the left flank. Freier, who has been exceptional this season, used her pace to beat her defenders into the box and pull off an incredible finish, threading the needle through the minute space between Aquino and the goalpost, to give Brisbane the insurance goal. Freier is sticking her hand up to be one of Brisbane’s top candidates for the A-League Women’s All-Stars team for the upcoming fixture in May against Arsenal Women.
Brisbane continued their relentless pressure in the second half and on several occasions were an inch away from bagging a third goal. Perth mounted an attempt at a late comeback, bringing on some fresh legs and throwing everything at Brisbane for the last half hour. But Brisbane matched their energy level, held great positioning, and were very disciplined in defence. The Roar closed the game out and gave the Roar keeper Keeley Richards her first clean sheet for her new club.
It was another glimpse of the true potential of Alex Smith’s Brisbane Roar. If only they’d played like this a little more throughout the season, I think they would have easily made the finals series. But there seems to be a lot of positive signs for next season. As for the Glory, it’s back to the drawing board again, as their nightmarish season goes from bad to worse. They are now on a winless streak of 11 matches, which is only two shy of their worst ever run of 13 winless matches between February 2020 and March 2021. Perhaps a change of head coach and tactics is in order before the next season.
Brisbane Roar will host Canberra United next Saturday in their last match of the season. Meanwhile, Perth Glory will play host to an in-form Melbourne City on the Sunday.
Teams: BRISBANE ROAR (3-4-3): Richards, Scarpelli, McCormick, De La Harpe, McQueen, Freier, Norrie, Stephenson, Yallop, Woods, Corbin. Substitutes: Shuttleworth, Davies, Palmer, Hecher, Kirkup.
Scorers: Stephenson 33’, Freier 43’.
PERTH GLORY (3-4-3): Aquino, Anton, Dalton, Cowart, Cassidy, Cain, Rigby, Foletta, Lowry, Jale, Phonsongkham.Substitutes: James, Farrow, Hoarau, Lawrence, Quezada.
Referee: Caitlin Williams
Attendance: TBC.
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