Melbourne Victory 1-0 Perth Glory
by Ben Gilby with EXCLUSIVE photography from Adrian Geremia at The Home of the Matildas (18/1/25)
Above: Perth Glory (light-coloured shirts) put the Melbourne Victory defence under pressure during the first half today. Photo: Adrian Geremia for Impetus.
Melbourne Victory marked their talismanic midfielder Alex Chidiac’s 100th A-League Women appearance with a hard-earned win over Perth Glory at The Home of the Matildas this afternoon.
Whilst the Glory gave the hosts a lot to think about despite being hampered by two further injuries to key midfielders as well as Tijan McKenna’s sending off, Jeff Hopkins’ charges ran out winners thanks to a quality strike from Kayla Morrison just after the half-hour mark.
The encounter saw a host of players taking on their former clubs, including both goalkeepers, Nat Tathem, Alana Jancevksi, and Sofia Sakalis adding a little bit more spice to the clash.
Caitlin Doeglas’ influence in the Glory front line was evident from the start with the constant pressing from herself and the Perth midfield putting the Victory back line under real pressure when trying to play out from the back, forcing mistakes on several occasions.
The first 20 minutes were harum-scarum stuff with regular transitions in play as both sides looked to force the pace, with the ultimate consequence that neither side had the time to create sustained opportunities in front of goal.
Overall, it was the visitors who had more of the territory in this period, focusing their attack along the left-hand flank and earning regular opportunities for Megan Wynne to propel her long throws into the mix. Defensively, Perth were harrying the Victory and successfully denying their key weapons of Nikki Flannery, Emily Gielnik, and Rachel Lowe of possession.
Gielnik gained her first opportunity when she was fed through on the far right-hand side on the counter-attack to fire in a shot from an acute angle that only just went over the top, although Casey Dumont looked to have it covered in the Glory goal.
Perth’s command of territory was broken by the drinks break midway through the half, a pause that also coincided with the influential Georgia Cassidy having to leave action after receiving a blow to the head earlier in the game.
The short break allowed the Victory to have a re-set. They re-emerged looking to play into space to find their runners which had the double benefit of reducing the amount of transitional play and giving them time to bring their key offensive weapons into the game.
Within moments, that change to their approach had its impact. Victory earned a free kick around 25 yards outside the box on the right after a tussle between Claudia Bunge and Wynne. The ball was floated in towards the back post where Kayla Morrison was unmarked. Tathem’s attempted clearing header fell for the defender to lift the ball into the top of the net.
As the clock ticked into stoppage time at the end of the opening 45, Lowe and Gielnik combined magnificently to break through, only to be denied by Dumont who came out to meet them.
The second half opened with a bang as McKenna fired in a rocket for Perth from just outside the box that narrowly flew over the top.
As the action edged towards the hour mark, Chidiac’s influence on the game grew. Flying along the right-hand side, she squared a low ball across for Flannery to direct goalwards at the back post, but Dumont denied the former Canberra United attacker.
This set the tone for a busy couple of minutes as immediately afterwards, Hollar advanced towards goal for the visitors and from just outside the box she curled a powerful effort that forced Courtney Newbon in the Victory goal to push away at full stretch.
Then, just moments later, things took a backward step for the visitors as McKenna was sent off for her second yellow card in four minutes, both for fouls on Chidiac. To add insult to injury, Perth boss Stephen Peters had just made a double substitution to switch things up, which reduced his options to make the necessary re-jig after the loss of his midfielder.
The visitors rallied in the face of adversity, looking to exploit the left-hand side of the park. They later also had to overcome another hurdle after losing substitute Charli Wainwright, who was having a promising performance, to a knock. The Western Australians can ill afford more injury woe and will be keeping everything crossed to ensure that neither Cassidy nor Wainwright becomes the latest member of their long-term injured list.
This was an encounter that was, at times cagey between two sides who failed to fire at maximum consistently. Despite this, it was always an engaging tactical battle.
Whilst Perth forced more corners and shots on goal, ultimately it was Victory who had that extra bit of quality when it mattered. They had the strength in depth and experience to get over the line and earn another three points in their pursuit of rivals Melbourne City at the top of the ladder.
To view Adrian Geremia’s gallery of images for Impetus from the game, check out our Instagram account – @ImpetusFootball.
Teams: MELBOURNE VICTORY (4-3-3): Newbon, Pickett, Bunge, Morrison, Jancevski, Murphy, D’Appolonia, Chidiac, Gielnik, Lowe, Flannery. Substitutes: Candy, Curtis, O’Grady, Sakalis, Young.
Scorers: Morrison 33′.
PERTH GLORY (4-3-3): Dumont, Johnston, Chinnama, Zogg, Tathem, McKenna, Cassidy, Hollar, Wynne, Doeglas, Sunaga. Substitutes: Dalton, Lala, Templeman, Valletta, Wainwright.
Referee: Racheal Mitchenson.
Attendance: 1,014.
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