Goals in either half from former PGFC Academy duo Trent Ostler and Khoa Ngo were not enough to prevent Glory from slipping to a 3-2 defeat against Melbourne Victory in a lively encounter at AAMI Park on Friday evening.
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Ostler opened his account for the season with a composed finish to give Glory an early lead, before Louis D’Arrigo levelled for the home side in first-half stoppage-time.
Nishan Velupillay then converted from a Juan Mata corner shortly after the restart to put Victory ahead and 2-1 became 3-1 when Clerismario Santos benefitted from some more Mata magic and slid a shot past Matt Sutton in the Glory goal.
To their credit, Adam Griffiths’ side refused to lie down and set up a tense finale when Ngo was teed up by fellow-substitute Luke Amos and claimed his maiden A-League goal with a neat finish 11 minutes from time.
Despite their best efforts, however, Glory were unable to find an equaliser at the death which would have moved them to within one point of the top six.
The tone for a helter-skelter opening half was set very early on as Ostler capped off a scintillating break to put Glory ahead with 12 minutes on the clock.
Rhys Bozinovski did the groundwork, showing a searing burst of pace to get away down the right and then great vision to cut back an inch-perfect ball for Ostler who swept a shot past home ‘keeper Jack Duncan.
Tom Lawrence then had the ball in the net two minutes later, only for his effort to be ruled out for offside and Victory responded to that let-off by creating a shooting chance for Velupillay whose effort almost squirmed through Matt Sutton’s grasp.
The action immediately swung back to the other end when Lawrence’s persistence carved out a one-on-one opportunity for Arion Sulemani, but Duncan managed to deflect the Glory man’s effort around the post with a fingertip save.
As half-time approached, Victory began to gain the ascendancy and they came close to restoring parity via a looping header from Denis Genreau which struck the crossbar and a strike from Mata which flew over.
It looked as if Glory were destined to weather the storm and head to the sheds with their lead intact, but it was not to be as another goalmouth scramble deep in stoppage-time ended with D’Arrigo’s low shot finding its way through a cluster of bodies and into the net.
Victory began the second half as purposefully as they had finished the first and were rewarded eight minutes after the restart when Mata’s deep corner found Velupillay making a late run into the box and his volley was deflected off the unwitting Ostler into the net.
Victory’s third goal arrived midway through the half, Genreau managing to elude two Glory defenders on the byline and slip the ball to Mata whose cut-back was clipped home by Santos.
At that stage it looked as if Glory’s race was run, but the visitors refused to wilt, dug deep and hit back through Ngo.
Amos, making a welcome first appearance of the season, dispossessed Genreau and rolled the ball into the path of the overlapping Ngo who made light of a tight angle by flicking home cleverly with the outside of his right foot.
With their tails up, Glory duly pushed the hosts right to the whistle, but a late leveller ultimately eluded them as in-form Victory hung on to secure a fourth straight win.
Match Details
Isuzu UTE A-League 2025/26 Season Round 11
Melbourne Victory 3 (D’Arrigo 45+6′, Velupillay 53′, Santos 69′) Perth Glory 2 (Ostler 12′, Ngo 78′)
Half-time: 1-1
AAMI Park
Friday 2 January 2025
Referee: Casey Reibelt
Melbourne Victory: 25. Jack DUNCAN (gk), 2. Jason DAVIDSON, 9. Nikolaos VERGOS, 10. Denis GENREAU (19. Jing REEC 85′), 11. Clerismario SANTOS RODRIGUES (29. Oliver DRAGICEVIC 85′), 15. Sebastian ESPOSITO, 16. Joshua INSERRA, 17. Nishan VELUPILLAY (23. Keegan JELACIC 77′), 21. Roderick MIRANDA (3.Adama TRAORE 17′), 27. Louis D’ARRIGO, 64. Juan MATA (14. Matthew GRIMALDI 77′)
Substitutes not used: 28. Kayne RAZMOVSKI, 40. Jack WARSHAWSKY (gk)
Yellow Cards: None
Red Cards: None
Perth Glory: 29. Matt SUTTON (gk), 2.Charbel SHAMOON, 3.Sam SUTTON, 4.Scott WOOTTON, 7.Nicholas PENNINGTON (39. Giovanni DE ABREU 77′), 17.Arion SULEMANI (22.Adam TAGGART (c), 54′), 18.Rhys BOZINOVSKI (10.Luke AMOS 77′), 20.Trent OSTLER (26. Khoa NGO 54′), 27. Will FRENEY, 34. Tom LAWRENCE, 45.Brian KALTAK
Substitutes not used: 40.Ryan WARNER (gk), 5.Riley FOXE, 24.Andriano LEBIB
Yellow Cards: Ostler, Pennington, Shamoon
Red Cards: None
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