Here Is An Official Match Report...
The Late Late Late Show.
Perth Glory 3 (Mori 82, Pondeljak 87, Caceres 8
beat
Melbourne Knights 0
In front of a crowd 9780 in warn sunny conditions, Perth Glory started the
defence of their NSL Championship with a hard fought and very late 3-0
victory over the Melbourne Knights.
It was a rusty performance from Glory in that the team just did not seem to
gel until the final exciting 10 minutes of the game.
In fact even the infamous Shed appeared very subdued, possible due to the
strong sun beating down on them all match. In fact it appeared that more
sound was coming from the 100 or so Knights supporters that braved the
journey.
Onto the game and it was the Knights who brought the first save of the
match from a keeper when in the 20th minute Fa'arodo tormented Coyne on the
wing before passing the ball to Natsioulas who fired a great shot from 25
meters that was pushed over the bar by Petkovic.
Less than a minute later Perth had their best chance of the first half when
Mori and Srhoj played some neat interchange football with the latter putting
Mori through on goal, he succeeded in rounding the keeper but was on too
tight an angle and could only steer the ball into the side netting.
The last action of the half saw Mori turn sharply 30 meters from goal and
fire a shot just wide. This was in the 45th minute.
The 2nd half started with a much more determined effort from Glory and
after just 48 minutes Horsley had a long range shot tipped wide by Johns in
the Knights goal.
The pressure continued to build on the Knights and after 50 minutes
Pondeljak put Mori through on goal and referee Lennie adjudged that Johns
took down the Glory striker and awarded a penalty. However Mori's weak shot
was well saved by Johns.
Just 3 minutes later another Glory attacked finished with Mrdja finding
Mori in the 6 yard box but again the striker again failed to hit the target,
this time hitting the top of the cross bar with his shot.
In the 66th minute Pondeljak tried his luck with a long range effort but
again Johns was equal to the task and saved well.
By the 70th minute Glory coach dAvray had made 2 changes with Despotovski
and Caceres replacing Mrdja and Hassell.
The game looked to be heading to a dull nil all draw when Glory won a throw
in with just 8 minutes remaining. Long throw specialist Coyne took the throw
and placed it at the near post, panic ensued in the Knights defence and Mori
was on hand to poke the ball into the back of the net to give Glory the
lead.
With that goal Glory suddenly relaxed and started to play like the Champion
they are and following a great run by Pondeljak, Mori had a shot that was
blocked but rebounded to Pondeljak who finished with clinical accuracy to
make it 2-0 in the 87th minute.
The scoring was finished just 1 minute later when Caceres who was very
lively once he came on linked up well with Despotovski and finished the move
with a neat chip into the back of the net.
The 3-0 scoreline flattered Glory and did little justice to the Knights who
fought it out well and frustrated the Glory until that fateful final 10
minutes.
In a side issue to the match the highlight the half time break was a
presentation to the captain of the Knights supporters team who defeated the
Glory supporters in a ground breaking supporters match played the day
before.
It just went to show that with a bit of effort as was shown by both sets of
supporters that differences can be resolved and that supporters can and do
have the good of the game at heart.
The supporters game was organised by the members of both clubs internet
forums.
Perth Glory
3 - 0 Melbourne Knights
D Mori 82'
T Pondeljak 87'
A Caceras 88'
Lineup Lineup
1 Jason Petkovic (gk)
2 Matthew Horsley
4 Bradley Hassell (-70')
5 Shaun Murphy
6 Wayne Srhoj (-87')
9 Nick Mrdja (-65')
11 Jade North
12 Mark Byrnes
15 Tom Pondeljak
16 Damian Mori
24 Jamie Coyne
1 Martin John (gk)
2 Stanko Zilic
3 Rodrigo Vargas
5 Daniel Piorkowski
6 Andrew Marth
9 Peter Buljan
12 Isyan Erdogan (-73')
16 Bill Natsioulas (-46')
18 Henry Fa'Arodo
19 Anthony Pelikan
22 Steve Pantelidis (-87')
Substitutes
3 Matthew Bingley (+87')
10 Bobby Despotovski (+65')
21 Adrian Caceras (+70')
20 Vince Matassa (gk)
4 Antun Kovacic (+87')
11 Tomi Razov (+73')
23 Nick Waite (+46')
20 Adam Hrehoresin (gk)
Cautions
S Murphy 62'
A Caceras 88'
S Zilic 32'
M John 50'
Red Cards
Referee Crowd Venue
Eddie Lennie 9780 Arena Joondalu
3. Pondeljak (PG)
2. Murphy (PG)
1. Zilic (MK)
Eamon Duffy