The Perth Glory and Western Sydney Wanderers will be fighting to maintain their place in the top six when they clash on at nib Stadium Saturday night. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 10pm (AEDT).
The Wanderers have been at both ends of the emotional spectrum this week having inflicted Sydney FC’s first loss of the season in their epic derby clash last week in front of 45,000 at ANZ Stadium.
Then just four days later they came crashing down in their opening group game of the Champions League, conceding four second-half goals in their loss to Japan’s Urawa Red Diamonds.
Coach Tony Popovic will need to manage his squad carefully as after the Perth clash on Saturday night, they then travel to Shanghai for their next Champions League group match.
They face a tough task against one of the most in-form teams in the competition. The Glory have lost just one of their last nine games and are coming off a highly entertaining 2-2 draw against Brisbane Roar last week.
Led by their midfield maestro Diego Castro it was end-to-end football in difficult conditions with the temperature hovering in the low 30s for most of the match.
The Glory attack has been on fire recently having kicked 14 goals in their past seven games.
Adam Taggart has scored in seven of their last eight games. He was quiet for most of last week’s match but found enough space to score the equaliser. He’ll welcome back his strike partner Andy Keogh who missed last week with a sore hamstring.
Prediction
Popovic rested Terry Antonis and last week’s hero Brendon Santalab midweek so both should be fresh for this game as will Dimas who returns from suspension.
Scoring goals has been a problem for the Wanderers all season and they have scored only seven in their last eight games and three of those were in one game against the Phoenix.
Glory with in-form attackers in Taggart, Keogh, Castro along with Chris Harold will put enormous pressure on the Wanderers defence, even more so at nib Stadium.
It’s going to be hard to see the Wanderers keeping up with Glory.
Perth 2-0
Midfielder
Guest
PG are playing well ... they could just be the team to knock off SFC or MV..
Lou Lando
Roar Guru
MATCH REVIEW Perth Glory moved back in to the top four after defeating Western Sydney Wanderers 2-0 at nib Stadium. Glory commanded proceedings for most of the night and were rarely troubled by a poor Wanderers attack that barely troubled Glory keeper Liam Reddy. Glory scored both of their goals in injury time of each half, the first by Chris Harold on the stroke of half time thanks to a deflection off Wanderers defender Robert Cornthwaite, in what was a fairly uninspiring half with neither side able to find any flow or cohesion in attack. Perth should have been awarded a penalty when Santalab seemed to handle a Chris Harold flick in the box. Wanderers only effective shot was a 25 yard scorcher by Terry Antonis who provided Wanderers far and few best moments of the night. Nothing much changed for the Wanderers in the second half, Perth controlled most of it and looked the far more dangerous side, mounting several counter attacks. Chris Harold and the sublime Diego Castro were behind most of the attacks. Andy Keogh worked hard but he and fellow striker Adam Taggart were held fairly quiet all night. Castro was the catalyst and clearly the best player on the pitch, continually getting by defenders and causing havoc. Rhys Williams was solid at the back, Josh Risdon busy all night. The Wanderers were quite disappointing, especially in attack where they've struggled all season. They were too predictable going forward, most of their attacks launched down the middle, width was non existent and too often players would run forward and just stop to pass backwards, killing any momentum and giving Glory defenders plenty of time to get back in support. Only Terry Antonis looked dangerous as he tried his hardest to create chances. For Glory they move to third on the table and their hot form continues with now just one loss from their last ten games. For Wanderers and head coach Tony Popovic, they hardly have time to reflect as they now fly to Shanghai for Tuesday's Champions League game. Popovic has some problems to sort out if his team is going to make an impact in either League. FINAL SCORE Perth Glory - 2 Western Sydney W - 0
Sam
Guest
WSW is a stupid team.
Lou Lando
Roar Guru
FULL TIME at nib Stadium and Perth Glory defeat Western Sydney Wanderers 2-0
Lou Lando
Roar Guru
90' + 3 - Castro works his way into the box again ...passes back to Chianese....who slots it past JAnjetovic for a GOAL!! Perth 2-0
Lou Lando
Roar Guru
90' + 1 - Good run by Jumpei down the left...cross is cleared. Perth 1-0
Lou Lando
Roar Guru
90' - 5 mins of stoppage time remaining
Lou Lando
Roar Guru
85' - Castro with another run off the counter....shot ....just over the bar. Perth 1-0
Lou Lando
Roar Guru
81' - Griffiths on for Nichols. Perth still leading 1-0
Lou Lando
Roar Guru
77' - Jumpei gets in to the box to santalab ...turns and shoots but Reddy is able to dive to his right to save that one. A rare opportunity. Perth 1-0
Lou Lando
Roar Guru
76' - Harold on the counter , goes for the run....loses the ball
Lou Lando
Roar Guru
Last 15 mins coming up and the Wanderers really need to find something, they look out of ideas up forward
Lou Lando
Roar Guru
Yeah Swanny, crowd has been terrific tonight, very vocal.
Lou Lando
Roar Guru
73' - Zini replace the Sotirio for the Wanderers Perth 1-0
Swanny
Guest
The crowd sounds loud and getting into it The glory are the sleeping giant of the A league . The big crowds will return if they keep winning .
Lou Lando
Roar Guru
Game resumes
Lou Lando
Roar Guru
Attendance 9,789
Lou Lando
Roar Guru
68' - Another drinks break. Perth in control and leading 1-0.
Lou Lando
Roar Guru
66' - Harold's pass into the box sees a mad scramble as Williams and Keogh's shots are blocked. Perth 1-0
Lou Lando
Roar Guru
Perth leading corner count so far 9-2 and shots 12-7