Perth Glory 0-1 Melbourne Victory
Report by Ben Gilby with EXCLUSIVE photography from Rob Lizzi at the Sam Kerr Football Centre (8/12/24).
Above: Melbourne Victory celebrate Alana Murphy’s late winner at Perth Glory today. Photo: Rob Lizzi for Impetus.
A stunning long-range strike from Alana Murphy three minutes into stoppage time at the end of 90 minutes sealed all three points for Melbourne Victory in Perth today.
In a match that saw both defences largely on top for the duration, a moment of individual brilliance from Murphy sealed the deal for Jeff Hopkins’ side as the ball was laid off to her almost 25 yards outside the box to fire home.
Earlier the visitors saw a penalty saved comfortably by Perth’s Casey Dumont. Victory had the bulk of the possession, but struggled to make it pay without the experience and guile of Em Gielnik and Alex Chidiac, who were on Matildas duty the previous day in Geelong. They brought back former Perth favourites Courtney Newbon, Alana Jancevski, and Sofia Sakalis to Western Australia to face their former club. Conversely, Glory’s Dumont and Nat Tathem renewed acquaintances with their former side.
Glory head coach Stephen Peters gave Dumont her 150th W-/A-League Women appearance – becoming the first goalkeeper to achieve this milestone in the process. He was also able to bring Izzy Foletta into his squad for the first time this season, with another locally produced youngster Charli Wainwright, a technically gifted midfielder, also on the bench aiming to get her first-ever start in the A-League Women. Tijan McKenna was back from spending the international window with Croatia.
Whilst the visitors had the best of the opening exchanges, particularly focusing their attacks along the right flank, with the battle between Nikki Flannery and Grace Johnston particularly crucial. Whilst the former Canberra attacker had plenty of possession, the Glory defence was largely able to hold Jeff Hopkins’ side at arm’s length. Victory consistently couldn’t quite find the telling final ball.
Perth’s best early opportunities came through the burgeoning partnership between Georgia Cassidy and Kelli Brown. Cassidy was able to use her accurate expansive ball-playing skills to release Brown along the left flank where she had the better of Ellie Wilson in the process.
Largely though, the home side were not able to connect the dots between Impetus A-League Women Young Player of the Month Sarah O’Donoghue and her fellow attackers. Consequently, clear-cut chances were few and far between at either end.
The best chance of the half came with 26 minutes gone as Cymru international Megan Wynne’s growing influence on matters saw her get free along the right to pull a low cross for captain Izzy Dalton coming in at the near post to lift a shot over the top.
Moments later, Jancevski used twinkle-toed footwork to drive past Zogg on the right and hit an effort with the outside of her foot which Dumont held. The visitors held the upper hand for the remainder of the half but failed to trouble Dumont further. It remained goalless at the break.
Victory continued to ramp up the pressure at the start of the second half, maximising possession along the right-hand side, with Jancevski and McKenna’s tussle a key part of the play. Brown was dropping deep to give the Glory a potential outlet – but the visitors were able to nullify anything the home side could create.
Perth just couldn’t get their key creative players on the ball and this in turn impacted their sharpness up front.
With 52 minutes gone, there was a real shot across Glory bows as Flannery escaped from Tathem along the right to fire a powerful shot into the side netting.
Then, with 68 minutes on the clock, Jancevski’s corner curled in from the right. Referee Mackie ruled that it had hit Zogg on the arm and pointed to the spot. But cometh the hour, cometh Dumont. Rachel Lowe took one step and hit a high shot that was comfortably saved.
That was effectively that. Until Alana Murphy stepped up to seal the win with a stunning long ranger in the depths of stoppage time. The ball was laid off outside the box for her to drive a brilliantly angled shot into the net from outside the box. Perth’s wait for a home win against Jeff Hopkins’ side now stretches to a seventh year.
Defensively, the Glory are well organised and strong. It’s at the other end of the field that needs to be developed. They have other options in their attacking armory to be trialled – it may well be that now is the time to give them a go.
For Rob Lizzi’s two photo galleries from the game, check out our Instagram page @ImpetusFootball.
Teams: PERTH GLORY (4-2-3-1): Dumont, Tathem, Zogg, Chinnama, Johnston, Cassidy, McKenna, Wynne, Dalton, Brown, O’Donoghue. Substitutes: Abdul-Massih, Foletta, Hollar, Templeman (GK), Wainwright.
MELBOURNE VICTORY (4-1-4-1): Newbon, Wilson, Bunge, Morrison, Goad, Murphy, Flannery, Lowe, D’Appolonia, Jancevski, O’Grady. Substitutes: Briedis, Candy, Curtis, Pickett, Sakalis.
Scorers: Murphy 90+3.
Referee: Bec Mackie.
Attendance: 971.
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