Perth Glory 1-0 Newcastle Jets
by Ben Gilby (3/1/26)
Above: Perth Glory’s Grace Johnston (purple shirt, centre) and Bronte Trew (right) look to keep Newcastle Jets at arms length tonight. Photo: Newcastle Jets.
Perth Glory recorded their third win with a clean sheet in four matches after captain Izzy Dalton’s early goal sealed victory against Newcastle Jets on a hot late afternoon at the Sam Kerr Football Centre.
The Glory were once more impressive in the middle of the park with their creative talents, passing game and rapid press all key to the outcome of a third straight 1-0 home win.
Susan Phonsongkham, Izzy Dalton and Georgia Cassidy all showed their influence on proceedings both denying the Jets time on the ball and closing them down rapidly along with another impressive display from Teresa Morrissey in goal which sealed another clean sheet.
The Western Australians made two changes to their starting line-up from their decent showing at Melbourne City last week. Influential striker Rola Badawiya was out with a calf strain, replaced by Sarah O’Donoghue, with Onyi Zogg completing her return from injury to replace Mischa Anderson in the backline.
Newcastle boss Stephen Hoyle made three changes from his side’s 1-0 defeat to Canberra United last Saturday. Cass Davis returned after a foot injury with Josie Wilson and Claire Adams also coming in for India Breier, Libby Copus-Brown and Emma Bates.
The earliest stages were largely transitional, but Perth had the greater forward momentum, with Susan Phonsongkham looking to find both the runs and passes to make the breakthrough.
Speaking ahead of the game, Glory boss Stephen Peters and attacker Bronte Trew emphasised the importance for the team to take their chances when they come and with eight minutes they did just that.
Tash Prior played the ball back to keeper Anna Leat who was well outside of her goal, and rushed into a clearance by the Perth press. Phonsongkham gained possession in a central position around 25-yards out and fed the ball to O’Donoghue outside her who turned it into Dalton to side-foot into the net from the edge of the area to the right of centre.
The Glory were well aware of the Jets liking to play the ball back to Leat and looked to close the keeper down at every opportunity. The use of this press was squeezing the visitors and limiting any offensive sorties from the visitors.
It took until the 22nd minute for Newcastle to fashion their first real opportunity when excellent footwork allowed Melina Ayres to escape through the middle and thread a pass through for Sophie Hoban who let fly with a powerful effort that Teresa Morrissey saved.
Perth continued to use the press in a bid to force the errors and just after the half hour mark, O’Donoghue picked Prior’s pocket and was clean through. However, with metres of space ahead of her, the attacker chose to attempt the lob, and could only place the ball into Leat’s arms.
Shortly after, O’Donoghue picked up the play on the left and passed inside her to Dalton, who in turn laid off for Emma Tovar to let fly from outside the box, with the effort just wide of the left-hand post as the Glory continued to force the Jets into errors.
However, despite being on the front foot throughout, the home side had only a single goal lead, which would always make them vulnerable to a piece of individual magic.
With nine minutes until the break, Hoban was played in by Ayres on the edge of the box, but once more the talented Newcastle attacker was denied by a strong save from Morrissey. Josie Allan would also come close, hitting a shot from the left which scorched just wide of the far post.
Shortly before the break, Perth conjured up two half chances to double their lead. First, Dalton sprayed an exquisitely timed pass out to Trew on the right. Her lifted cross was met with an overhead kick by O’Donoghue that didn’t quite connect, but the ball found its way back to Cassidy to fire in a rocket that Leat did well to hold.
The second half opened in a transitional manner. Perth had the first chance when Phonsongkham beat Adams and played a cross in low from the right for O’Donoghue side-footing a shot from the edge of the six yard box wide of the far post.
Jets responded on 52 when Emma Dundas beat Tijan McKenna on the edge of the box to feed Josie Allan whose shot was pushed out on the left for a corner by Morrissey.
With the attacking changes being rung by Glory boss Stephen Peters with Gabby Hollar and Ella Lincoln both brought into the contest, Phonsongkham continued to look to be the likeliest source for a potential assist and one of her mazy runs was ended by Claudia Cicco on the edge of the box.
As the pace dropped off in the final 20 minutes, the Jets had their best spell in terms of possession in the Glory half. The home defence had done a superb job keeping Ayres at arms length until she was removed from the play. Josie Allan continued to put in the hard yards on the left flank for the visitors and Dundas showed real dedication to the cause all game long, but it would all be in vain.
Perth could have doubled their advantage as the clock ticked into stoppage time. Leat was forced into a rapid clearance once more as substitute Clancy Westaway picked up possession. Leat recovered to block her shot, but the follow up fell to Tovar whose effort was denied by the diving Leat. McKenna would also see an effort fly over the top.
The Glory were well organised and dedicated, ensuring that they saw the game out to lift themselves back into the top six.
Teams: PERTH GLORY (4-3-3): Morrissey, Johnston, Zogg, McKenna, Sardo, Dalton, Cassidy, Tovar, Trew, O’Donoghue, Phonsongkham. Substitutes: Anderson, Hollar, Lincoln, Phillips, Wainwright, Westaway.
Scorers: Dalton 8′.
NEWCASTLE JETS (3-3-3-1): Leat, Cicco, Prior, Wilson, Adams, Davis, Dundas, L.Allan, Hoban, J.Allan, Ayres. Substitutes: Bates, Breier, Brown, Copus-Brown, Johnson, Ritchie.
Referee: Rebecca Durcau.
Attendance: 948.
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