Perth Glory v Singapore

These statistics were written and researched for the OzSoccer archive by Searlais Mullen and Greg Stock.

As part of Perth Glory's preseason warmup they played a friendly match against the visiting international side of Singapore.

Played : Thursday September 18 1997 Venue : Kiev Sports Ground, Perth

Perth Glory
1.Tom Maras (20.Tony Franken 46'), 2.Vladimir Bretovac, 3.Craig Naven, 6.Gareth Naven (11.Ernie Tapai 46'), 7.Scott Miller, 8.Paul McVittie, 9.Paul Strudwick, 10.Bobby Despotovski, 12.Doug Ithier, 15.Peter Vukmirovic, 16.Sasha Markovski (14.Scott Halpin 46')
Goals : Strudwick 25' 85' Miller 31' Halpin 75' Beretovac 88' 5 - 1 Singapore
Goal : Dalis 48'

Referee : Eddie Lennie
Attendance : approx 400

A week ago Glory's pre-season form seemed to be getting worse and worse. Two matches later and the team suddenly looks impressive. Singapore were to be no easy-beats, as their past performances against the WA State Team had proved, and yet Glory took them to the cleaners. Quite an achievement considering Singapore's FIFA ranking of 112 (three higher than New Zealand).

On a cool still night a reasonable crowd turned up to this one. The Kiev Sports Ground is one of the most decrepit in the state, particularly the small covered area on the halfway line, but as Dorrien Gardens was unavailable it was the only floodlit venue located near the city.

Marocchi fielded several fringe players, including three who missed the Adelaide City match. Maras lined up in goals, Craig Naven as sweeper, Ithier and Shack as the central defenders, Vlad on the right flank, Miller on the left, Gareth Naven, Chisel and Strudders in midfield and Bobby and Sasha Markovski up front. On the bench were Franken, Tapai and Scott Halpin, the latter a Fremantle City striker on trial.

Singapore's players were all unfamiliar. Most of them were Malay and one of two Indians, but oddly enough no Chinese. The tallest in their starting eleven was about 5' 10". Not surprisingly they were to struggle in the air.

The first half was so one-sided it was embarrassing. The number of strikes at goal was staggering. That Glory didn't score five or six before half time was due to profligate finishing, not resolute defending. Luckily for Singapore Bobby was having one of his worst days in front of goal. He didn't get even one shot on target. Everything else about Bobby's play was superb, especially his holding of the ball and distribution, but his heading and shooting were deplorable. Sasha Markovski was allowed far fewer opportunities, but it must be said that he himself was partly to blame for being too slow on the ball. Miller, Strudders and Vlad all had shots, and so did Craig Naven. Amazingly Craig got it on target, a first for him!

The first goal predictably came from a corner. It dipped in the centre of the box and Strudders headed it in with confidence. The second goal, also from a corner, was an odd one. Shack and Bobby challenged the keeper to the ball at the near post. I'm not sure if Shack nodded it down or the keeper knocked it down, or if it bounced off Bobby or the keeper before going in. Neither Shack nor Bobby themselves seemed too sure who put it in. Oddly the goal was credited to the corner taker, Scotty Miller, but there was no way the ball was going in directly.

Singapore were woeful. Their first touch was terrible and their passing worse. Glory gave them little space and they seemed unused to the speed at which they were closed down. However, they were robbed of a goal by some diabolical refereeing. The Singapore centre-forward (a sprightly wee chap with an Alan Hunter haircut) was put through the middle and challenged by Maras. The ball squeezed past Maras, trickled towards goal and before a free player on the right could tap it in the net, the ref, none other than Eddie Lennie, blew the whistle and awarded a free to Glory. Quite incredible. If there was a foul it was by Maras. Singapore had every right to feel aggrieved. That was the only time they threatened the whole half.

At half time Marocchi made three substitutions, swapping Franken for Maras and the very disappointing Gareth Naven and Markovski for Tapai and Halpin. Singapore made no changes, but the way they started the second half they hardly needed one. Whatever their coach had told them in the dressing room transformed them entirely. For the first ten minutes of the half Glory were put under the hammer. Singapore were suddenly fast, fluent and first to the ball. Adding an extra spring to their step was the conversion of their first chance. A deep cross from the right found Dalis totally unmarked on the left. His header looped over Franken and suddenly Singapore were back in the match. A group of Singaporese near that goal cheered lustily, making themselves heard for the first time in the match. It was an excellent header but it went over Franken's outstretched arms, and he was on his line. Poor goalkeeping.

Glory couldn't get the ball forward and Singapore's harrying produced more chances. Two strong shots were blocked by a pressed defence, and a complete sitter was missed at the end of a fast breaking move down the right. The contrast between the Singapore of this half and the first couldn't have been more dramatic.

Gradually Glory managed to steady the ship. A long twenty minutes of hard graft followed, with Chisel working like a coolie in the centre. Chances were non-existent for Glory, but they kept at it and finally the cracks in Singapore's midfield and defence reappeared. Glory's first chance of the second half came (yet again) from a corner when Doug Ithier struck the post with a powerful header. Singapore made a meal of clearing it and eventually a second chance fell to Strudders, who headed over the bar.

Bobby came back into the match and played superbly as a target man able to hold the ball. The defender marking him had been on him like a bad suit the last twenty minutes, but suddenly Bobby was re-establishing his superiority. Scott Halpin was finally getting some ball too, and looked very impressive. He was sharp, skilful, strong, good in the air and laid the ball off beautifully. Halpin got his first chance not long after Ithier's header, when he found some space outside the penalty box and hit a powerful driving shot just wide of the post.

Finally the third goal arrived and the match was killed off. It was the result of an excellent interchange between Bobby and Halpin. A long ball forward was beautifully redirected down the left flank by Halpin. Bobby ran onto it, cut inside and threaded the ball into the box. Halpin collected it and coolly struck it into the corner of the net. A superb goal. An overjoyed Halpin ran over to Bobby to thank him for the service.

Glory completely dominated from there on, and there were more chances missed. Singapore had been pretty dirty the whole match, but their fouls from behind and other niggling challenges became plague-like in their proportions. Their worst offender was their right back Hairi, who was eventually booked. Singapore got away with two blatant penalties, the first being a body check on Tapai and the second a jersey-pull on Halpin. Lennie's refereeing was atrocious, certainly not what one would expect from a FIFA accredited official.

In the last five minutes Singapore completely lost heart and were finished off with two goals. The first was a good finish from Strudders after he was found free in the box by Bobby. The second came from a Miller header when he beat the Singapore keeper to a cross. The ball spilled out to the right and Vlad slid it home at the far post. There were late opportunities that were unconverted, mainly headers, but five goals was a satisfactory haul on the night.

Glory's second half performance was truly exceptional and showed just how far we have come as a team. Instead of panicking and falling apart when Singapore came back in the second half, which we were wont to do last season, the team weathered the storm, fought their way back and eventually ground Singapore down. It was interesting to see which players were there when we needed them. There were four who stood out. Shack had another brilliant game at the back. After a poor first half Chisel fought like a soldier and was our most useful midfielder on the night. And Bobby and Halpin turned it on when we needed them to. One wonders how many Halpin may have scored had he been on the first half. He looks like the answer to our striker problems. Sign him now!

Miller played well in the first half but was very quiet during the tough period of the second half. Ithier had a solid game in defence but his passing was suspect. Vlad just isn't suited to the attacking right wing-back role - he is much better at destroying than creating. He didn't give the player he was up against a sniff the whole match. The goal he scored was a good piece of opportunism. Tapai didn't look comfortable when the Singapore midfield had him under pressure, but still contributed some nice passes towards the end of the match. Maras wasn't tested in the first half but his kick-outs were terrible. Franken was badly at fault for the goal but otherwise looked okay. He does have an annoying habit of kicking the ball high rather than flat and direct.

The poor performers on the night were Strudders, Markovski and the Naven brothers. Strudders scored twice but still looks badly out of touch. He just couldn't do anything with the ball and lost it every time. He almost made up for his bad night with his two good finishes and several headers won in the air. Markovski just doesn't have it. I hate to say it, but Sasha isn't good enough for Glory. He comes up with the occasional nice touch, pass or turn, but he needs far too much time and space. Also his shooting leaves a lot to be desired. Halpin in the second half was a thousand times better. Sasha may be heading back to Melbourne a broken-hearted lad.

I won't say much about the Navens, only that Craig is not a sweeper and caused us several heart attacks with his bad control and passing. His brother put in yet another rotten performance. Last season Gareth occasionally looked good, but for the pre-season he's been uniformly woeful. Luckily for him Marocchi likes him a lot.

No Singapore player stood out, except for all the wrong dirty reasons, but their keeper did very well at crosses and corners in the second half. His crappy first half performance somewhat counterbalances that though.

The WWTW, Eddie Lennie, was shocking. He let Singapore get away with a scandalous number of fouls in the back of Glory players, especially poor bloody Bobby. His non-award of three blatant penalties was even worse.

As part of Perth Glory's preseason warmup they played a friendly match against the visiting international side of Singapore.
Played : Thursday September 18 1997				Venue : Kiev Sports Ground, Perth
Perth Glory 1.Tom Maras (20.Tony Franken 46'), 2.Vladimir Bretovac, 3.Craig Naven, 6.Gareth Naven (11.Ernie Tapai 46'), 7.Scott Miller, 8.Paul McVittie, 9.Paul Strudwick, 10.Bobby Despotovski, 12.Doug Ithier, 15.Peter Vukmirovic, 16.Sasha Markovski (14.Scott Halpin 46') Goals : Strudwick 25' 85' Miller 31' Halpin 75' Beretovac 88'	5	-	1	Singapore Goal : Dalis 48'
Referee : Eddie Lennie Attendance : approx 400
A week ago Glory's pre-season form seemed to be getting worse and worse. Two matches later and the team suddenly looks impressive. Singapore were to be no easy-beats, as their past performances against the WA State Team had proved, and yet Glory took them to the cleaners. Quite an achievement considering Singapore's FIFA ranking of 112 (three higher than New Zealand). On a cool still night a reasonable crowd turned up to this one. The Kiev Sports Ground is one of the most decrepit in the state, particularly the small covered area on the halfway line, but as Dorrien Gardens was unavailable it was the only floodlit venue located near the city. Marocchi fielded several fringe players, including three who missed the Adelaide City match. Maras lined up in goals, Craig Naven as sweeper, Ithier and Shack as the central defenders, Vlad on the right flank, Miller on the left, Gareth Naven, Chisel and Strudders in midfield and Bobby and Sasha Markovski up front. On the bench were Franken, Tapai and Scott Halpin, the latter a Fremantle City striker on trial. Singapore's players were all unfamiliar. Most of them were Malay and one of two Indians, but oddly enough no Chinese. The tallest in their starting eleven was about 5' 10". Not surprisingly they were to struggle in the air. The first half was so one-sided it was embarrassing. The number of strikes at goal was staggering. That Glory didn't score five or six before half time was due to profligate finishing, not resolute defending. Luckily for Singapore Bobby was having one of his worst days in front of goal. He didn't get even one shot on target. Everything else about Bobby's play was superb, especially his holding of the ball and distribution, but his heading and shooting were deplorable. Sasha Markovski was allowed far fewer opportunities, but it must be said that he himself was partly to blame for being too slow on the ball. Miller, Strudders and Vlad all had shots, and so did Craig Naven. Amazingly Craig got it on target, a first for him! The first goal predictably came from a corner. It dipped in the centre of the box and Strudders headed it in with confidence. The second goal, also from a corner, was an odd one. Shack and Bobby challenged the keeper to the ball at the near post. I'm not sure if Shack nodded it down or the keeper knocked it down, or if it bounced off Bobby or the keeper before going in. Neither Shack nor Bobby themselves seemed too sure who put it in. Oddly the goal was credited to the corner taker, Scotty Miller, but there was no way the ball was going in directly. Singapore were woeful. Their first touch was terrible and their passing worse. Glory gave them little space and they seemed unused to the speed at which they were closed down. However, they were robbed of a goal by some diabolical refereeing. The Singapore centre-forward (a sprightly wee chap with an Alan Hunter haircut) was put through the middle and challenged by Maras. The ball squeezed past Maras, trickled towards goal and before a free player on the right could tap it in the net, the ref, none other than Eddie Lennie, blew the whistle and awarded a free to Glory. Quite incredible. If there was a foul it was by Maras. Singapore had every right to feel aggrieved. That was the only time they threatened the whole half. At half time Marocchi made three substitutions, swapping Franken for Maras and the very disappointing Gareth Naven and Markovski for Tapai and Halpin. Singapore made no changes, but the way they started the second half they hardly needed one. Whatever their coach had told them in the dressing room transformed them entirely. For the first ten minutes of the half Glory were put under the hammer. Singapore were suddenly fast, fluent and first to the ball. Adding an extra spring to their step was the conversion of their first chance. A deep cross from the right found Dalis totally unmarked on the left. His header looped over Franken and suddenly Singapore were back in the match. A group of Singaporese near that goal cheered lustily, making themselves heard for the first time in the match. It was an excellent header but it went over Franken's outstretched arms, and he was on his line. Poor goalkeeping. Glory couldn't get the ball forward and Singapore's harrying produced more chances. Two strong shots were blocked by a pressed defence, and a complete sitter was missed at the end of a fast breaking move down the right. The contrast between the Singapore of this half and the first couldn't have been more dramatic. Gradually Glory managed to steady the ship. A long twenty minutes of hard graft followed, with Chisel working like a coolie in the centre. Chances were non-existent for Glory, but they kept at it and finally the cracks in Singapore's midfield and defence reappeared. Glory's first chance of the second half came (yet again) from a corner when Doug Ithier struck the post with a powerful header. Singapore made a meal of clearing it and eventually a second chance fell to Strudders, who headed over the bar. Bobby came back into the match and played superbly as a target man able to hold the ball. The defender marking him had been on him like a bad suit the last twenty minutes, but suddenly Bobby was re-establishing his superiority. Scott Halpin was finally getting some ball too, and looked very impressive. He was sharp, skilful, strong, good in the air and laid the ball off beautifully. Halpin got his first chance not long after Ithier's header, when he found some space outside the penalty box and hit a powerful driving shot just wide of the post. Finally the third goal arrived and the match was killed off. It was the result of an excellent interchange between Bobby and Halpin. A long ball forward was beautifully redirected down the left flank by Halpin. Bobby ran onto it, cut inside and threaded the ball into the box. Halpin collected it and coolly struck it into the corner of the net. A superb goal. An overjoyed Halpin ran over to Bobby to thank him for the service. Glory completely dominated from there on, and there were more chances missed. Singapore had been pretty dirty the whole match, but their fouls from behind and other niggling challenges became plague-like in their proportions. Their worst offender was their right back Hairi, who was eventually booked. Singapore got away with two blatant penalties, the first being a body check on Tapai and the second a jersey-pull on Halpin. Lennie's refereeing was atrocious, certainly not what one would expect from a FIFA accredited official. In the last five minutes Singapore completely lost heart and were finished off with two goals. The first was a good finish from Strudders after he was found free in the box by Bobby. The second came from a Miller header when he beat the Singapore keeper to a cross. The ball spilled out to the right and Vlad slid it home at the far post. There were late opportunities that were unconverted, mainly headers, but five goals was a satisfactory haul on the night. Glory's second half performance was truly exceptional and showed just how far we have come as a team. Instead of panicking and falling apart when Singapore came back in the second half, which we were wont to do last season, the team weathered the storm, fought their way back and eventually ground Singapore down. It was interesting to see which players were there when we needed them. There were four who stood out. Shack had another brilliant game at the back. After a poor first half Chisel fought like a soldier and was our most useful midfielder on the night. And Bobby and Halpin turned it on when we needed them to. One wonders how many Halpin may have scored had he been on the first half. He looks like the answer to our striker problems. Sign him now! Miller played well in the first half but was very quiet during the tough period of the second half. Ithier had a solid game in defence but his passing was suspect. Vlad just isn't suited to the attacking right wing-back role - he is much better at destroying than creating. He didn't give the player he was up against a sniff the whole match. The goal he scored was a good piece of opportunism. Tapai didn't look comfortable when the Singapore midfield had him under pressure, but still contributed some nice passes towards the end of the match. Maras wasn't tested in the first half but his kick-outs were terrible. Franken was badly at fault for the goal but otherwise looked okay. He does have an annoying habit of kicking the ball high rather than flat and direct. The poor performers on the night were Strudders, Markovski and the Naven brothers. Strudders scored twice but still looks badly out of touch. He just couldn't do anything with the ball and lost it every time. He almost made up for his bad night with his two good finishes and several headers won in the air. Markovski just doesn't have it. I hate to say it, but Sasha isn't good enough for Glory. He comes up with the occasional nice touch, pass or turn, but he needs far too much time and space. Also his shooting leaves a lot to be desired. Halpin in the second half was a thousand times better. Sasha may be heading back to Melbourne a broken-hearted lad. I won't say much about the Navens, only that Craig is not a sweeper and caused us several heart attacks with his bad control and passing. His brother put in yet another rotten performance. Last season Gareth occasionally looked good, but for the pre-season he's been uniformly woeful. Luckily for him Marocchi likes him a lot. No Singapore player stood out, except for all the wrong dirty reasons, but their keeper did very well at crosses and corners in the second half. His crappy first half performance somewhat counterbalances that though. The WWTW, Eddie Lennie, was shocking. He let Singapore get away with a scandalous number of fouls in the back of Glory players, especially poor bloody Bobby. His non-award of three blatant penalties was even worse.