A first-half double to Eugene Dadi has helped Perth Glory to an upset 3-1 Hyundai A-League win at Members Equity Stadium on Saturday night that also cost Melbourne Victory first place on the ladder.
A first-half double to Eugene Dadi has helped Perth Glory to an upset 3-1 Hyundai A-League win at Members Equity Stadium on Saturday night that also cost Melbourne Victory first place on the ladder.
A week after Dave Mitchell’s men had to endure the agony of conceding the latest of equalisers at home to the Mariners, there was no repeat of that heartbreak as Glory responded to a second-half test to climb off the bottom.
Newcastle could still send Perth back to the cellar when it hosts Sydney FC on Sunday afternoon, while Melbourne was beaten for the second week in succession following the 2-1 defeat on the road to Wellington in Round 13 and conceded top spot to Adelaide.
Dadi scored twice in four minutes early, opening the scoring in the 18th minute and following up with his second in the 22nd, while Ney Fabiano’s goal in the 55th minute wasn’t enough as Adriano Pellegrino settled the issue with 11 minutes left.
Both teams suffered injury blows before the game with Glory striker Nikita Rukavytsya ruled out by the calf strain that he had been battling all week and Victory marksman Archie Thompson unused off the bench after suffering a corked thigh.
Victory made the brighter start to the match and Grant Brebner played Billy Celeski in for him to cross to Danny Allsopp but Tando Velaphi blocked Allsopp’s shot away for a corner.
Minutes later and the home side should have opened the scoring when Nikolai Topor-Stanley’s long ball in was only partially cleared by the defence, with Adrian Trinidad smashing his volley wide with the goal at his mercy.
Glory did go ahead when Dadi nodded the ball on for Scott Bulloch only for his wide pass to Trinidad to appear to ease the pressure but Trinidad skipped around Michael Thwaite and picked out Dadi to belt home off the underside of the bar.
Two minutes later and Pellegrino had a crack from wide on the right but Michael Theoklitos had his near post covered, before Pellegrino’s corner soon after was headed down by Dino Djulbic for Dadi and he beat Thwaite to double his haul and the lead.
The visitors then had a great chance to pull a goal back five minutes before the break when Celeski found Allsopp down the right and he played it back for Tom Pondeljak in the heart of the box but Pondeljak couldn’t find the target.
Glory very nearly made it 3-0 in the closing seconds of the half when Theoklitos came for a long ball and failed to control it under pressure from Djulbic, with Djulbic’s follow-up effort sliding wide.
Matthew Kemp’s cross for Pondeljak at the start of the second half was cut out by Harnwell, but Harnwell’s attempt to intercept a Fabiano pass for Pondeljak moments later gave the Brazilian the opening he needed and he lashed home at the near post.
Glory came close to going further ahead in the 59th and 71st minutes, with Theoklitos blocking Bulloch’s stinging shot initially before later Dadi got in Naum Sekulovski’s way when he waited to connect with a cross at the far post, allowing the defence to clear.
Free headers to Allsopp and then Rody Vargas in the 72nd and 74th minutes respectively could have levelled the scores, with Nick Ward finding Allsopp for him to head wide before a Carlos Hernandez free kick was glanced over by Vargas.
The killer blow came in the 79th minute when Pellegrino capitalised on Vargas losing his footing to skip onto the ball, get around another defender and then fire home one of the goals of the season with his devastating left foot.
Perth Glory 3 (Dadi 18′, 22′, Pellegrino 79′)
Melbourne Victory 1 (Fabiano 55′)
Saturday, 6 December 2008
Members Equity Stadium, Perth
Referee: Peter Green
Crowd:
Perth Glory:. 30. Tando VELAPHI (gk), 2. Nikolai TOPOR-STANLEY, 4. Jamie COYNE (c), 5. Jamie HARNWELL, 6. Dino DJULBIC, 9. Adrian TRINIDAD (19. Naum SEKULOVSKI 52′), 11. Scott BULLOCH (25. Marc ANTHONY 78′), 14. Eugene DADI, 16. Adriano PELLEGRINO, 17. James DOWNEY, 22. Wayne SRHOJ (7. Nick RIZZO 89′)
Substitutes not used: 1. Jason PETKOVIC (gk)
Yellow cards: Eugene DADI (22′)
Red cards: Nil
Melbourne Victory: 1. Michael THEOKLITOS (gk), 2. Kevin MUSCAT (c), 3. Michael THWAITE (22. Nick WARD 60′), 7. Matthew KEMP, 8. Grant BREBNER, 9. Danny ALLSOPP, 11. NEY FABIANO (16. Carlos HERNANDEZ 67′), 12. Rodrigo VARGAS, 14. Billy CELESKI, 15. Tom PONDELJAK, 17. Jose LUIS LOPEZ
Substitutes not used: 20. Mitchell LANGERAK (gk), 10. Archie THOMPSON
Yellow cards: Billy CELESKI (43′), Matthew KEMP (45′), Carlos HERNANDEZ (90+’)
Red cards: Nil
