Melbourne Victory tasted success in Perth for the first time in over three years after beating Glory 1-0 at nib Stadium on Saturday night.
Melbourne Victory tasted success in Perth for the first time in over three years after beating Glory 1-0 at nib Stadium on Saturday night.
Perth defender Scott Jamieson’s 24th-minute own goal proved the difference as Victory recorded just their third win in 12 attempts in the Western Australian capital.
The Glory had their hopes of a comeback all but ended in the 68th minute when defender Josh Risdon was dismissed for a second bookable offence.
Victory, with eight wins from their past 13 matches, narrowed the gap on second-placed Adelaide United to two points, while Perth remained eighth on the ladder with their second consecutive defeat.
Ange Postecoglou made two changes to the Victory side that drew with Central Coast Mariners, with Leigh Broxham replacing the injured Nick Ansell in defence and Jimmy Jeggo coming in for suspended midfielder Billy Celeski.
Perth coach Ian Ferguson made just one change following a narrow loss to Adelaide United, with Risdon returning to the line-up in a defensive reshuffle while Japanese midfielder Ryo Nagai was dropped to the bench.
Victory almost opened the scoring in the fifth minute when Marcos Flores pounced on a defensive error and crossed the ball to Spase Dilevski, whose header was tipped away by Danny Vukovic before Jacob Burns blocked a second effort from the goal line.
Glory had an opportunity at the other end of the pitch less than two minutes later when Dean Heffernan’s glancing header collided with the crossbar to cap a frantic start in front of a vocal crowd of 7603.
Victory began to settle with the majority of possession as Jeggo and Flores looked dangerous in the midfield and Broxham appeared settled in his new role alongside captain Adrian Leijer.
The visitors broke the deadlock through an unlikely source when Jamieson’s attempt to clear a Marco Rojas ball intended for fellow forward Archie Thompson hit the back of his own net.
Former Victory defender Steve Pantelidis was cautioned in the 34th minute for a challenge on his old team-mate Thompson, whose pace continued to cause problems for the Glory defence.
Mark Milligan almost gifted Glory a surprise equaliser with a misguided clearance that resulted in a corner – one of seven that the hosts failed to capitalise on in the opening half.
Perth started the second half strongly and almost levelled proceedings through Travis Dodd, whose long-range effort was brilliantly blocked by a diving Nathan Coe.
Victory had a chance to double their advantage in the 61st minute when Thompson played a ball for Rojas, who was superbly denied by Vukovic.
Thompson and Rojas continued to create opportunities on the counterattack, while Perth introduced Nagai for Dodd in search of a breakthrough.
Perth went under further pressure when Risdon was sent off for a mistimed challenge that resulted in a second yellow card.
Rojas almost capitalised on the advantage in the following minutes with only Vukovic to beat, but was stopped again in his tracks by the Glory custodian.
Perth came close to salvaging a point in injury time, though Nagai’s deflected shot agonisingly cannoned off the crossbar as Victory secured their first win in Perth since November 2009.
Victory will now look forward to a blockbuster clash with Sydney FC at AAMI Park on Saturday, while Perth will entertain champions Brisbane Roar on the same day.
Perth Glory 0
Melbourne Victory 1 (Jamieson 24og)
Crowd: 7603 @ nib Stadium
