Perth Glory showed plenty of promise but couldn’t come away with the spoils as English Premier League outfit Wolverhampton Wanderers secured a 1-0 victory at Members Equity Stadium on Friday night.
Glory unveiled their best side since the inception of the A-League, with Socceroos Mile Sterjovski and Jacob Burns joining former Derby County defender Andy Todd in a talented outfit.
But despite the trio impressing, along with several of their teammates, dual Championship golden boot winner Sylvan Ebanks-Blake’s strike in the second minute was enough to give Wolves victory.
There was plenty to like about the Glory, who will be further bolstered once new Socceroo signing Chris Coyne and former Bundesliga striker Branko Jelic slip into the line-up.
Youngster Scott Neville starred in the second half in his role at right back, while Jamie Harnwell, Burns, Todd, Victor Sikora and Adriano Pellegrino were also prominent.
The 11,083 fans had barely settled into their seats when Ebanks-Blake opened the scoring after latching on to George Elokobi’s long throw into the box.
Ebanks-Blake, who has topped Wolves’ scoring charts for the past two seasons, saw his initial strike rebound off the upright but had no trouble tapping in the rebound.
Glory striker Sterjovski came close to levelling the scores in the fourth minute with a long-range strike, but luckily for Wolves the ball whistled just wide of the target.
The visitors had hoped to get through their trip to Australia unscathed but were dealt a blow when Scottish international Chris Iwelumo injured his right foot after coming off second best in a tussle for the ball with Jacob Burns.
Tando Velaphi pulled off a terrific diving save to deny Andrew Surman’s curling strike in the 32nd minute, with Perth holding their own for the remainder of the half.
Sterjovski was lively up front, while Glory’s defensive pairing of Harnwell and Todd repelling the advances of the dangerous Ebanks-Blake.
Wolves introduced club-record signing Kevin Doyle in the second half but it was fellow Republic of Ireland international Andy Keogh who almost doubled the lead in the 65th minute after getting past Jamie Coyne on the right.
Keogh’s fearsome strike beat Velaphi’s outstretched hand but struck the bottom of the crossbar before bouncing away.
Glory Youth League player Million Butshire had a golden chance two minutes later when he was released into the box and spun out of a tackle, but former Reading goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann did well to block the strike after racing off his line.
Keogh was making a nuisance of himself and almost pulled out a wonder goal from 35 yards out in the 89th minute, only for Velaphi to dive well to his right to palm away the danger.
Neville also did well in the 90th minute to keep out Greg Halford’s goal-bound header.
Wolves coach Mick McCarthy confirmed Iwelumo broke his metatarsal and would miss the start of the Premiership season.
“It’s hugely disappointing,” McCarthy said.
“Chris has worked his socks off to have the career he has.
“We just got to the Premiership and he breaks his metatarsal … it’s hugely disappointing for him and for me.”
Perth coach Dave Mitchell was pleased with the hit-out.
“It was the first time a lot of players had played together,” Mitchell said.
“In patches, we played really good football and other times we were a bit sloppy, but that’s to be expected.
“A lot of things to work on still but some good performances.”
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