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07Feb20
Perth Sink Ten Men To Extend Unbeaten Run To Nine
by Jeremy Ruane
Perth Glory consolidated their top-three placing in the Hyundai A-League in front of 7,248 fans at HBF Park on February 7, overcoming fourth-placed Wellington Phoenix 4-2 to extend their unbeaten run to nine matches.
It was a game which saw the yellow card brandished nine times, including to both Wellington coach Ufuk Talay and assistant Paul Gothard, and to Tim Payne on two occasions, referee Adam Kersey sending him off in decidedly harsh circumstances nineteen minutes from time.
Had the official been performing at his optimum, he'd have sent off Perth midfielder Jake Brimmer just seven minutes into the contest for a wild, over-the-top lunge at Cameron Devlin which, thankfully, never made contact with the Wellington man's leg.
There was plenty of intent in the challenge, however, but referee Kersey saw fit to only have a word with the offender for a challenge which should have earned Brimmer a yellow card at the very least.
Sadly, that poor decision set the tone for the official's evening. Thereafter, Mr Kersey kept trying to make amends, booking players for comparatively trivial offences and generally contributing to an at times error-riddled display by both teams, who were repeatedly guilty of giving away possession just as soon as it had been presented to them.
Chances were few and far between early doors, with Rene Piscopo firing the first shot in anger in the eighth minute as his shot sizzled past Liam Reddy's near post. Perth responded with some enterprising attacks, the pick of them a fourteenth minute raid which saw Stefan Marinovic pull off a sharp reflex save to keep out a Joel Chianese volley, after the striker had linked well with Ivan Franjic.
How Perth failed to open the scoring in the 22nd minute only Nick D'Agostino, Bruno Fornaroli and Tomislav Mrcela can explain, all three guilty of failing to get a decisive touch on a peach of a Neil Kilkenny free-kick delivered from the left flank with a teasing curl on it, the ball creeping narrowly past the far post when a touch from any of the aforementioned trio would have seen the net bulging.
Inside the final ten minutes of the first half, David Ball twice had chances to open the scoring for Wellington, but failed to hit the target on each occasion. In the 35th minute, Piscopo released Payne down the right, the fullback delivering a cross which Ball headed past the near post.
Six minutes later, Piscopo orchestrated a delightful move which culminated in his through ball inviting Ball to let fly from the inside left channel. He did so, but dragged his shot across the face of goal from ten yards out.
Perth instantly went down the other end, Fornaroli forcing Marinovic to tip his twenty-five yarder over the bar. From Kilkenny's resulting corner, the home team took the lead, the ball ricocheting off a defender at the near post and falling invitingly for Mrcela to head home from close range in the 43rd minute.
Straight from the kick-off, Wellington pressed for an equaliser, with Reddy forced to save at the feet of both Ulises Davila and covering defender Gregory Wuthrich after Ball had miscued a cross from Payne in his ongoing quest to hit the target.
Reddy sent Perth downfield once more, and within seconds it was 2-0. Chianese and Brimmer worked a one-two on the right before the striker played the ball into the feet of Fornaroli.
He shielded the ball smartly before turning and threading a pass across the bows of Chianese and perfectly into the stride of D'Agostino, who drilled home Perth's second goal in as many minutes from eight yards.
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Wellington had to score first after the resumption of play, but instead it was Perth who were celebrating again, in the 54th minute. Franjic picked out Fornaroli with a cross which allowed the striker to angle a pass to the left-hand byline.
Kim Soo Beom's crossing had not been worthy of mentioning so far in the match, but he delivered an absolute gem of a ball on this occasion, D'Agostino the beneficiary from just six yards out - 3-0.
And they could have had more soon afterwards, as a shell-shocked Wellington - who hadn't played badly - tried to get their heads round the fact that the game was almost beyond them, and would have been had Marinovic not saved from D'Agostino prior to Steven Taylor - a fine game - blocking a Fornaroli effort after the striker had swept past four defenders.
D'Agostino combined with Kim in the 63rd minute, the latter cutting inside before seeing his shot ricochet off Chianese and fly past the near post, much to the relief of Marinovic, who looked on soon after as a Chianese cross bisected both Fornaroli and D'Agostino as Perth continued to press for more goals.
It was Wellington who were celebrating a goal in the 68th minute, however. After Taylor's header, from a Davila corner, had been blocked to safety, the Mexican played the ball wide to Payne, whose delicious "buffet ball" cross through the corridor of uncertainty was swept home by second half substitute Gary Hooper from six yards - 3-1.
No sooner had they got back into the match, however, Wellington's hopes nose-dived when referee Kersey saw fit to book Payne for accidentally clipping D'Agostino as the pair crossed paths while running in the 71st minute.
Sadly for the fullback, it was his second booking of the contest, thus reducing the visitors to ten men for the duration. Needless to say, coach Ufuk Talay was more than a little miffed by this development, so referee Kersey saw fit to add him to the list of names in his little black book after brandishing the yellow card once more.
Goalkeeping coach Paul Gothard joined his boss in the book later in the contest, but not before the ten men had reduced the deficit to 3-2 to set up a grandstand finish in this "Distance Derby".
After Reddy had splendidly turned away Piscopo's twenty-five yard free-kick, Liberato Cacace and Davila made in-roads down the left in the 76th minute, the latter picking out Hooper, whose shot on the turn beat the goalkeeper all ends up at his near post and really set the cat amongst the pigeons among the Perth faithful.
Surely the home team weren't going to bottle a three-goal lead on home turf against ten men? Much to the undisguised relief of Perth's fans in "The Shed", they didn't. Indeed, they had another goal to celebrate before the final whistle, with D'Agostino, Fornaroli and Chianese combining before a twenty yard rocket from Fornaroli flew past Marinovic to finally settle the contest, 4-2 in Perth's favour.
Perth: Reddy; Wuthrich, Mrcela, Grant; Franjic (Elrich, 77), Kilkenny, Brimmer (booked, 32) (K. Popovic, 73 (booked, 74)), Soo-Beom (Meredith, 69); Chianese (booked, 67), Fornaroli, D'Agostino
Wellington: Marinovic; Payne (booked, 36, 71 - sent off), Taylor, DeVere, Cacace; Sotirio (booked, 21) (Hooper, 55), Devlin (booked, 16), Rufer (Hudson-Wihongi, 73), Piscopo (McCowatt, 82); Ball, Davila
NB Wellington coaching staff Ufuk Talay (booked, 72), Paul Gothard (booked, 86)
Referee: Adam Kersey
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