Melbourne Victory’s unbeaten run in the Liberty A-League came to an end with a 2-0 loss to Perth Glory at AAMI Park on Saturday.
Summary
After a tight encounter, Victory’s five-match unbeaten run was ended following two second-half goals from Perth.
Mie Leth Jans and Leena Khamis scored after the break in a match in which a Victory win would have secured a Finals Series spot.
Both teams made a bright start and Victory threatened in the sixth minute, Catherine Zimmerman almost picking out Lia Privitelli with a cross from the left.
Perth had a great chance to open the scoring after 16 minutes, but Sofia Sakalis side-footed wide from inside the area.
The opportunities kept coming during an entertaining opening half and Zimmerman put a good effort onto the roof of the net from 20 yards.
Victory captain Lia Privitelli almost opened the scoring on the half-hour mark, but the attacker’s effort from the right was well tipped over by Glory goalkeeper Morgan Aquino.
At the other end, Victory shot-stopper Casey Dumont had to get down low to save Cyera Hintzen’s strike five minutes before half-time as the teams went into the break level.
Victory needed a clearance off the line from Tiffany Eliadis to keep it level in the 63rd minute after Jans’ header from a corner.
But Perth opened the scoring six minutes later as Jans’ header from another corner deflected off numerous legs before going in.
Just four minutes later and it was 2-0, Khamis heading in from close range after a cross from the right.
Victory tried to push in the closing stages, but was unable to find a way back into the contest.
What they said – Alex Chidiac
on the game…
“I think we’re definitely a bit depleted on energy at the moment. We have had a pretty hectic schedule, but that’s not an excuse either. We’ve just got to switch on in these second halves, we’ve been talking about it, that we’ve been a one-half team and we really need to pick it up at the end of the season.”
on the busy schedule…
“It is really difficult, especially with a lot of the travel as well. We’re finding it really hard at the moment, but we have had players come in and really step up too so that is positive, but it has been difficult.”
Player in focus
Zimmerman tried hard and looked the most dangerous Victory player in attack, constantly threatening when the opportunities presented.
Implications
The defeat left Victory in fourth on the table, a point ahead of Perth Glory and two adrift of third-placed Adelaide United, but it holds a game in hand on both of those sides.
Result
Liberty A-League 2021/22 Round 12
Melbourne Victory 0
Perth Glory 2 (Mie Leth Jans 69′, Leena Khamis 73′)
Melbourne Victory: Dumont (gk); Doran, Hendrix, Eliadis, Nevin; Cooney-Cross; Murphy (Barbieri 31′), Chidiac (Robers 78′); Privitelli (c) (Zois 78′), Markovski (Withers 58′), Zimmerman.
Perth Glory: Aquino (gk); Rigby, Mihocic, Carroll, De la Harpe; Jans, Cain (Khamis 68′); Phonsongkham (Keane 68′), Lowry, Sakalis (De Vanna 60′); Hintzen (Jancevski 84′).
Yellow cards: Jancevski 87′
Red cards: Nil
Attendance: TBA
Venue: AAMI Park
Next up
Victory’s busy run of games continues with a trip to face Canberra United on Tuesday.
