Perth Glory 3-1 Adelaide United
Report by Ben Gilby with EXCLUSIVE photography from Rob Lizzi at the Sam Kerr Football Centre (15/12/24)
Above: Perth Glory’s Naomi Chinnama gets up highest to head home her side’s first goal in today’s game. Photo: Rob Lizzi for Impetus.
Perth Glory claimed their second win of the A-League Women season as they produced their best 90-minute display of the campaign to defeat an Adelaide United side who went into the game in fourth place.
The home side were extremely well organised at the back and largely nullified the considerable threat of Fiona Worts, Chelsie Dawber, and Emily Condon. Offensively, they were able to make the most of chances when they came – factors that ensured that the points would stay in Western Australia.
Glory boss Stephen Peters handed an A-League debut for locally produced midfielder Charli Wainwright. This was a landmark day for the youngster who has both outstanding vision and passing range. It meant that the regular midfield starting line-up for NPLW WA side Perth SC were all playing together in an A-League Women game, with Wainwright joining Georgia Cassidy, Tijan McKenna, and Grace Johnston in a purple shirt.
With co-captain Izzy Dalton missing, Glory brought back another hugely talented local youngster, Mischa Anderson on the bench. The defender has been a star for both the NTC and Perth RedStar in recent NPLW WA seasons. Miku Sunaga also returned as a substitute after missing last week’s home game with Melbourne Victory.
For the visitors, all eyes were drawn to their bench. The listing of Emily Condon and Chelsie Dawber as substitutes showed the potential and power of the South Australians. Any team who has two such talented players as replacements is capable of serious damage. Condon would be thrown into the fray after just 10 minutes after an injury to Erin Healy.
Perth started positively. Gabby Hollar, returning to the starting line up after being on the bench last week, released Megan Wynne who danced up the right flank and played in a teasing ball that Claudia Jenkins punched away. In these early exchanges, Tathem was linking up well with the Welsh international on that flank as the Glory gave the Adelaide defence plenty to think about.
It’s taken a few weeks for Wynne to find her feet in the A-League Women, but she was a player possessed from the start of this encounter. Taking possession, turning, and driving into space between the Adelaide defence, she caused problems that Adrian Stenta needed to solve quickly.
The South Australians were looking to find Fiona Worts offensively at every opportunity, but the English striker was well marshalled by two Glory defenders at all times, with Tathem guiding the younger heads around her superbly. This was a well-organized and confident start by Perth. They just needed to find a goal to show for their efforts, as visiting keeper Jenkins had only rarely been forced into the action.
The reward finally came with 23 minutes of the clock. With the Glory awarded a free kick on the right, Georgia Cassidy curled the ball in viciously towards the back post where Naomi Chinnama rose highest to score her first-ever A-League Women goal in her 49th appearance.
Adelaide worked hard to respond, but the Perth defence screened off their attackers, which forced the South Australians to play across rather than through. It could have been better still for the home side with four minutes of regulation time to go before the break. Tathem honed in on goal but looked to square a pass to Kelli Brown rather than going for power, allowing Jenkins to gather.
The visitors had the better opportunities in the second period, and Casey Dumont was called upon to make two superb saves back to back just after the hour mark to deny Condon. Moments later, Tathem blocked Maleri Mullan’s effort on the left-hand side of the box.
Perth went straight down the other end and were denied by a sensational piece of goalkeeping by Jenkins. She first saved Hollar’s shot with a dive before getting a hand to Johnston’s follow-up which was cleared at the expense of a corner that saw Hollar head wide of the left-hand post.
The home side were left to rue those misses as, with 20 minutes remaining, Adeleide levelled. Chelsie Dawber received the ball, drove forward to be one-on-one with Dumont, and fired a powerful shot into the net.
Yet, parity only lasted four minutes as Wynne was brought down as she entered the area by Mullan and Hollar confidently sent the penalty into the right hand corner of the net.
Things got even worse for the visitors when Matilda McNamara was shown a red card for pulling back Kelli Brown as the last defender. Despite the newly called-up Matilda’s protestations and those of teammate Ella Tonkin, there was no changing referee Mikayla Ryan’s mind. The resulting freekick brought about a goalmouth scramble of schoolyard proportions before the visitors finally cleared.
In stoppage time, Perth sealed the win in style as Hollar sent a powerful header in at the back post from Brown’s corner on the left.
Perth now have a huge encounter on Friday night when they travel to take on a Western Sydney Wanderers side, fresh from securing their first win of the campaign in some style against Western United. Both teams will see it as a real chance to kick-start their seasons and push towards mid-table.
Check out our Instagram page @ImpetusFootball for more of Rob Lizzi’s EXCLUSIVE images from the game for us.
Teams: PERTH GLORY (4-3-3): Dumont, Tathem, Zogg, Chinnama, Johnston, McKenna, Cassidy, Wainwright, Wynne, Brown, Hollar. Substitutes: Abdul-Massih, Anderson, Foletta, Sunaga, Templeman (GK).
Scorers: Chinnama 23′, Hollar (pen) 74′, 90+1′.
ADELAIDE UNITED (4-3-3): Jenkins, Tolland, Tonkin, McNamara, Hodgson, Morgan, Bowler, Dewey, Worts, Healy, Leon. Substitutes: Condon, Dawber, Grove (GK), Karambasis, Mullan.
Scorers: Dawber 70′,
Referee: Mikayla Ryan.
Attendance: 968.
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