Perth Glory v Dianella White Eagles

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 trial game against Western Australian Premier League club Dianella White Eagles.

Played : Wednesday September 10 1997 Venue : Dorrien Gardens, Perth

Perth Glory
20.Tony Franken, 2.Vladimir Bertovac (3.Craig Naven 46'), 4.Gavin Wilkinson, 6.Gareth Naven, 7.Scott Miller (13.Warren Oakley 80'), 9.Paul Strudwick (8.Paul McVittie 72'), 10.Bobby Despotovski, 11.Ernie Tapai, 15.Peter Vukmirovic (12.Doug Ithier 46'), 16.Sasha Markovski, 18.Danny Hay
Goals : Despotovski 16' Markovski 49' 2 - 2 Dianella White Eagles
Goals : Ashley 44' Healy 45'

Attendance : approx 200

What a shambles. Never have I seen Glory play as badly as this. That they were matched and at times overwhelmed by a struggling WA Premier League club was bad enough, but it was at their own game as well. The spirit wasn't there, the commitment wasn't there, the cohesion wasn't there, the understanding wasn't there - to put it simply it was a total shambles.

Glory's opponents were Dianella White Eagles (nee Dianella Serbia), a WA Premier League side who have only recently battled out of relegation trouble. Dianella had lost their last two matches, including a 6-0 hiding from Sorrento. The West Australian confidently predicted that Glory would bag several goals, and that it would be a good chance to see how Bobby Despotovski and Sasha Markovski linked up.

Of more interest would be the first Glory appearance for Danny Hay, the highly rated Kiwi international signed a couple of months ago. Unusually he would play the match in the sweeper position. Perhaps of greater interest still would be the performance of Peter "Shack" Vukmirovic against the club he was caretaker player-coach of for a couple of weeks in August.

The crowd at Dorrien Gardens was small, no surprise since the match was barely publicised. Half of those attending were Dianella supporters, who normally would be cheering the team in purple. Tonight, however, they were very vocal in their support of their beloved White Eagles. It gave the game an atmosphere absent from the previous friendlies.

Glory's line up was little changed from that of the previous week. Bobby came back into the side, Strudders dropped back into midfield and Chisel was consigned to the bench. In defence Craig Naven was swapped for Danny Hay. Franken started (and finished) the whole game. Dianella fielded few stars, but veteran journeyman Carl McDarby was up front for them, along with the very promising Keegan Ashley.

The match started tentatively, but with Glory on top. Hay's first few touches were very promising. He looked very calm and composed and even made a few excellent runs forward. Dianella's defence looked dodgy and after only a few minutes they should have gone behind. Bobby chased a backpass and the Dianella keeper panicked and lost the ball. Bobby brought it to the goal-line, cut back and unselfishly laid it off to Markovski. With only two defenders between him and the net Markovski inexplicably hesitated and before he could shoot was dispossessed. He'll get fewer chances better than that one in his entire career.

After a quarter hour Glory opened the scoring. Bobby was fouled when pressing forward about ten metres outside the penalty box. The Dianella defence trotted back for the free kick. Bobby caught everyone unawares by taking it quickly and flighting the ball into the top corner of the net. The keeper was so taken by surprise he didn't even move. Excellent opportunism by Bobby but very unprofessional defending by Dianella. Not a dissimilar goal to the one Glory scored against Joondalup City.

I think everyone, including the Glory team, expected the NSL side to casually go about racking up a cricket score, but Dianella were made of much sterner stuff than that. McDarby showed that the Glory defence was far from impenetrable when he was put through on the right (Shack nowhere in sight) and Franken was forced to pull off a great save from a stinging drive. As the half wore on Glory became less and less cohesive and Dianella more and more confident. Having seen that Glory weren't up to much Dianella decided to take the game to them and it paid dividends. First Ashley found space in the middle and pushed a shot just wide. Then Ashley again came close with a good strike on the turn. Incredibly, as half time neared, Glory were on the ropes and wildly hoofing the ball clear was the best they could do.

Finally Dianella struck, and what a goal it was. Ashley, on the right hand corner of the penalty box, hit a half volley with his right foot and it flew over Franken into the top left corner of the net. The whole crowd went up and the Dianella supporters were absolutely delighted. And then, less than a minute later, the White Eagles took the lead. This time the goal came from a move straight through the middle. Dianella's diminutive Irish midfielder, Gareth Healy, collected the ball in an excellent position, beat a Glory defender and glided a brilliant left foot shot past Franken. Another breath-taking strike. Two-one and Glory were being torn apart. Bobby had a chance to remedy the situation when he received a clearance in the centre circle with only one defender in front of him. Instead of taking it on he tried an audacious shot that was so poor it didn't even reach the goal-line. Moments later the half time whistle blew.

To describe Glory's first half performance as woeful would be flattering. They were abysmal. Towards the end of the half the team completely lost shape. Passes always went astray. There was even a hint of bickering between the players at times. Dianella, playing the ball quickly out of defence and running at Glory with the ball, were giving them a taste of their own medicine. Shack was run all over the place by Ashley and must have been bitterly reflecting on how well he had coached his opponents.

Marocchi made two substitutions at half time. Shack was replaced by Doug Ithier, and Beretovac was replaced by Craig Naven. That Marocchi has to play Craig Naven on the right flank shows just how desperately we need a specialist right back.

The second half held little in the way of improvement. Lack of concentration from the Dianella defence let in Markovski early. The young striker was allowed a lot of space and despite being knocked slightly off balance was able to finish nicely with his left boot. The fourth top quality goal of the match.

Only a couple of minutes later Dianella could have taken the lead again. Inside the penalty box Ashley cut the ball back to a team mate (Culbertson?) who had the whole goal to shoot at. Embarrassingly he sliced his shot and it nearly went out for a throw in. It was the last good chance Dianella would get, but they still bothered the Glory defence the rest of the match.

Glory created enough good chances to win the game but it was due more to the ineptitude of the Dianella defence than creativity on Glory's part. Markovski hit the left post early in the half when instead of hitting a cross first time he decided to take a second touch and closed down his own angle. Later he hit the right post with a slightly mishit shot. Both times he was completely clear on the keeper. Generally Markovski needed too much time on the ball and hit shooting was weak. Bobby played very poorly and didn't have as many opportunities. His best came when he was one-on-one with the keeper, but he tried a subtle lob and it didn't come off. Miller tried a shot from outside the box but as it was on his weak right boot it didn't trouble the keeper much. Tapai's shots invariably cleared the wall behind the goal. Gareth Naven was put through once but instead of shooting with his left foot he tried to turn on the ball and not surprisingly was dispossessed.

In the dying minutes Glory looked to have the game won when they were awarded a penalty. A Dianella defender tipped the ball over the bar with his hand to prevent a certain goal but surprisingly was not sent off, nor even booked. Instead, and quite strangely, he changed his shirt instead. Weird. Bobby stepped up to take the penalty. There is a way of approaching a shot that always tells you that a player is going to miss, and Bobby does it all the time. He missed. The shot was blocked by the keeper and Bobby then compounded the villainy by pushing the rebound wide of the post. The crowd erupted. Cries of "hee-haw" filled the stand and the Dianella supporters were joyous to say the least. It seemed to sum up Glory's performance.

The tired Dianella team were able to hang on for the draw and not gift the opposition a late goal, as is their wont. They fully deserved the result. Unlike Perth SC and Joondalup City they took the game to Glory and were rewarded for it. Their fast breaks were always deadly and the Glory defence was often torn to shreds, especially in the first half. Two-all was a fair result on the night.

Well, what can one say about Glory? Against Perth SC and Joondalup they looked the far better team but just weren't able to create enough to break the opposition down. But against Dianella they looked ordinary, no better than an average WA Premier League side. They had plenty of space to work in but still couldn't do much with it. In fact they gave Dianella more space than they themselves were given. Several times during the match we saw the Dianella players taking on their more illustrious counterparts and beating them. On one occasion in the second half Dianella's right back found himself up against Kiwi international Gavin Wilkinson. He took him on and skinned him. This illustrated the whole nature of the match. Dianella realised they weren't playing world-beaters, gave it a go, earned rewards and as a result found the confidence to do it again and again. Glory had no such spirit and at times one wondered whether some players were even trying. Bobby and Miller were the two main culprits here.

Not one of the Glory team could claim to have played well. Markovski, as stated above, needs too much time and space, which won't be good enough for the NSL. His lack of physical presence is also a major liability. He is not the answer to Glory's striking problems. Bobby was also poor and even stopped running at the end of the match. The penalty miss was particularly bad.

Tapai was terrible, despite the occasional good touch or turn. His shooting was to be seen to be believed. For an Australian international he was an embarrassment. Strudders was rarely in the match but looked good on the ball. Even so it was no surprise to see him substituted. His replacement, Chisel, looked bad, even though he was on the field less than twenty minutes.

Gareth Naven was nothing less than appalling. There was a big hole in front of the Glory defence through which most of Dianella's attacks came. This was the area Naven was supposed to be working in. Also he simply won't do anything with the ball. If there is an opponent anywhere near him he'll immediately pass it back. Not the way anyone should play, let alone the captain. Last season Naven annoyed the hell out of me with his continuous turning on the ball and passing it back, but never has he indulged his nasty habit as much as he did tonight. His contribution to the match was nil.

On the left flank Scotty Miller did very little. He was taken off towards the end of the match and replaced by Warren Oakley. Oakley did nothing either. One has to wonder why Oakley, a player on trial, is only given ten minutes of action. What's he supposed to show in that amount of time? What's the point? On the right flank Beretovac was alternately useful and useless and was taken off at half time. Craig Naven replaced him, and all he managed to do was commit a dirty late tackle on a Dianella defender (who ended up having to come off) and then later get involved in a barney with another opponent. He showed a bit of spirit I suppose but that was all. Craig Naven is not a right back.

The defence was atrocious. They were run all over the place by Dianella's sprightly attack. Both Wilkinson and Hay were poor. I was particularly disappointed in Hay, who started the match so well. Perhaps his injury is still bothering him. Shack played a shocker in the first half and his half-time replacement, Ithier, looked a bit wild with some of his tackles. If the defence plays like this against Adelaide City (who will field Mori and Trajanovski) we could be humiliated.

Franken looked all right to me and pulled off a couple of good saves, but for Dianella's opener could have been a bit too far out of his goal. So believes Graham Lees, who has the video evidence to prove it! In any case he's still better than Tommy Maras.

About the referee the less said the better, only that it was "Handy Andy" Gorton and he'll never stop grandstanding and strutting about as long as he has a whistle in his hand (and a white stick in the other).

Instead of getting better Glory are getting worse. The cohesion tonight was less than it has ever been. Worse than that the team didn't seem to care. At best this is just plain unprofessional behaviour. At worst it's a crisis of morale. Dianella White Eagles are the weakest team Glory will play all season. On paper we will not have an easier match. If there isn't drastic improvement in very short time (four days to be exact) then we could be in for a bad season.

As part of Perth Glory's preseason warmup they played a trial game against Western Australian Premier League club Dianella White Eagles.
Played : Wednesday September 10 1997				Venue : Dorrien Gardens, Perth
Perth Glory 20.Tony Franken, 2.Vladimir Bertovac (3.Craig Naven 46'), 4.Gavin Wilkinson, 6.Gareth Naven, 7.Scott Miller (13.Warren Oakley 80'), 9.Paul Strudwick (8.Paul McVittie 72'), 10.Bobby Despotovski, 11.Ernie Tapai, 15.Peter Vukmirovic (12.Doug Ithier 46'), 16.Sasha Markovski, 18.Danny Hay Goals : Despotovski 16' Markovski 49'	2	-	2	Dianella White Eagles Goals : Ashley 44' Healy 45'
Attendance : approx 200
What a shambles. Never have I seen Glory play as badly as this. That they were matched and at times overwhelmed by a struggling WA Premier League club was bad enough, but it was at their own game as well. The spirit wasn't there, the commitment wasn't there, the cohesion wasn't there, the understanding wasn't there - to put it simply it was a total shambles. Glory's opponents were Dianella White Eagles (nee Dianella Serbia), a WA Premier League side who have only recently battled out of relegation trouble. Dianella had lost their last two matches, including a 6-0 hiding from Sorrento. The West Australian confidently predicted that Glory would bag several goals, and that it would be a good chance to see how Bobby Despotovski and Sasha Markovski linked up. Of more interest would be the first Glory appearance for Danny Hay, the highly rated Kiwi international signed a couple of months ago. Unusually he would play the match in the sweeper position. Perhaps of greater interest still would be the performance of Peter "Shack" Vukmirovic against the club he was caretaker player-coach of for a couple of weeks in August. The crowd at Dorrien Gardens was small, no surprise since the match was barely publicised. Half of those attending were Dianella supporters, who normally would be cheering the team in purple. Tonight, however, they were very vocal in their support of their beloved White Eagles. It gave the game an atmosphere absent from the previous friendlies. Glory's line up was little changed from that of the previous week. Bobby came back into the side, Strudders dropped back into midfield and Chisel was consigned to the bench. In defence Craig Naven was swapped for Danny Hay. Franken started (and finished) the whole game. Dianella fielded few stars, but veteran journeyman Carl McDarby was up front for them, along with the very promising Keegan Ashley. The match started tentatively, but with Glory on top. Hay's first few touches were very promising. He looked very calm and composed and even made a few excellent runs forward. Dianella's defence looked dodgy and after only a few minutes they should have gone behind. Bobby chased a backpass and the Dianella keeper panicked and lost the ball. Bobby brought it to the goal-line, cut back and unselfishly laid it off to Markovski. With only two defenders between him and the net Markovski inexplicably hesitated and before he could shoot was dispossessed. He'll get fewer chances better than that one in his entire career. After a quarter hour Glory opened the scoring. Bobby was fouled when pressing forward about ten metres outside the penalty box. The Dianella defence trotted back for the free kick. Bobby caught everyone unawares by taking it quickly and flighting the ball into the top corner of the net. The keeper was so taken by surprise he didn't even move. Excellent opportunism by Bobby but very unprofessional defending by Dianella. Not a dissimilar goal to the one Glory scored against Joondalup City. I think everyone, including the Glory team, expected the NSL side to casually go about racking up a cricket score, but Dianella were made of much sterner stuff than that. McDarby showed that the Glory defence was far from impenetrable when he was put through on the right (Shack nowhere in sight) and Franken was forced to pull off a great save from a stinging drive. As the half wore on Glory became less and less cohesive and Dianella more and more confident. Having seen that Glory weren't up to much Dianella decided to take the game to them and it paid dividends. First Ashley found space in the middle and pushed a shot just wide. Then Ashley again came close with a good strike on the turn. Incredibly, as half time neared, Glory were on the ropes and wildly hoofing the ball clear was the best they could do. Finally Dianella struck, and what a goal it was. Ashley, on the right hand corner of the penalty box, hit a half volley with his right foot and it flew over Franken into the top left corner of the net. The whole crowd went up and the Dianella supporters were absolutely delighted. And then, less than a minute later, the White Eagles took the lead. This time the goal came from a move straight through the middle. Dianella's diminutive Irish midfielder, Gareth Healy, collected the ball in an excellent position, beat a Glory defender and glided a brilliant left foot shot past Franken. Another breath-taking strike. Two-one and Glory were being torn apart. Bobby had a chance to remedy the situation when he received a clearance in the centre circle with only one defender in front of him. Instead of taking it on he tried an audacious shot that was so poor it didn't even reach the goal-line. Moments later the half time whistle blew. To describe Glory's first half performance as woeful would be flattering. They were abysmal. Towards the end of the half the team completely lost shape. Passes always went astray. There was even a hint of bickering between the players at times. Dianella, playing the ball quickly out of defence and running at Glory with the ball, were giving them a taste of their own medicine. Shack was run all over the place by Ashley and must have been bitterly reflecting on how well he had coached his opponents. Marocchi made two substitutions at half time. Shack was replaced by Doug Ithier, and Beretovac was replaced by Craig Naven. That Marocchi has to play Craig Naven on the right flank shows just how desperately we need a specialist right back. The second half held little in the way of improvement. Lack of concentration from the Dianella defence let in Markovski early. The young striker was allowed a lot of space and despite being knocked slightly off balance was able to finish nicely with his left boot. The fourth top quality goal of the match. Only a couple of minutes later Dianella could have taken the lead again. Inside the penalty box Ashley cut the ball back to a team mate (Culbertson?) who had the whole goal to shoot at. Embarrassingly he sliced his shot and it nearly went out for a throw in. It was the last good chance Dianella would get, but they still bothered the Glory defence the rest of the match. Glory created enough good chances to win the game but it was due more to the ineptitude of the Dianella defence than creativity on Glory's part. Markovski hit the left post early in the half when instead of hitting a cross first time he decided to take a second touch and closed down his own angle. Later he hit the right post with a slightly mishit shot. Both times he was completely clear on the keeper. Generally Markovski needed too much time on the ball and hit shooting was weak. Bobby played very poorly and didn't have as many opportunities. His best came when he was one-on-one with the keeper, but he tried a subtle lob and it didn't come off. Miller tried a shot from outside the box but as it was on his weak right boot it didn't trouble the keeper much. Tapai's shots invariably cleared the wall behind the goal. Gareth Naven was put through once but instead of shooting with his left foot he tried to turn on the ball and not surprisingly was dispossessed. In the dying minutes Glory looked to have the game won when they were awarded a penalty. A Dianella defender tipped the ball over the bar with his hand to prevent a certain goal but surprisingly was not sent off, nor even booked. Instead, and quite strangely, he changed his shirt instead. Weird. Bobby stepped up to take the penalty. There is a way of approaching a shot that always tells you that a player is going to miss, and Bobby does it all the time. He missed. The shot was blocked by the keeper and Bobby then compounded the villainy by pushing the rebound wide of the post. The crowd erupted. Cries of "hee-haw" filled the stand and the Dianella supporters were joyous to say the least. It seemed to sum up Glory's performance. The tired Dianella team were able to hang on for the draw and not gift the opposition a late goal, as is their wont. They fully deserved the result. Unlike Perth SC and Joondalup City they took the game to Glory and were rewarded for it. Their fast breaks were always deadly and the Glory defence was often torn to shreds, especially in the first half. Two-all was a fair result on the night. Well, what can one say about Glory? Against Perth SC and Joondalup they looked the far better team but just weren't able to create enough to break the opposition down. But against Dianella they looked ordinary, no better than an average WA Premier League side. They had plenty of space to work in but still couldn't do much with it. In fact they gave Dianella more space than they themselves were given. Several times during the match we saw the Dianella players taking on their more illustrious counterparts and beating them. On one occasion in the second half Dianella's right back found himself up against Kiwi international Gavin Wilkinson. He took him on and skinned him. This illustrated the whole nature of the match. Dianella realised they weren't playing world-beaters, gave it a go, earned rewards and as a result found the confidence to do it again and again. Glory had no such spirit and at times one wondered whether some players were even trying. Bobby and Miller were the two main culprits here. Not one of the Glory team could claim to have played well. Markovski, as stated above, needs too much time and space, which won't be good enough for the NSL. His lack of physical presence is also a major liability. He is not the answer to Glory's striking problems. Bobby was also poor and even stopped running at the end of the match. The penalty miss was particularly bad. Tapai was terrible, despite the occasional good touch or turn. His shooting was to be seen to be believed. For an Australian international he was an embarrassment. Strudders was rarely in the match but looked good on the ball. Even so it was no surprise to see him substituted. His replacement, Chisel, looked bad, even though he was on the field less than twenty minutes. Gareth Naven was nothing less than appalling. There was a big hole in front of the Glory defence through which most of Dianella's attacks came. This was the area Naven was supposed to be working in. Also he simply won't do anything with the ball. If there is an opponent anywhere near him he'll immediately pass it back. Not the way anyone should play, let alone the captain. Last season Naven annoyed the hell out of me with his continuous turning on the ball and passing it back, but never has he indulged his nasty habit as much as he did tonight. His contribution to the match was nil. On the left flank Scotty Miller did very little. He was taken off towards the end of the match and replaced by Warren Oakley. Oakley did nothing either. One has to wonder why Oakley, a player on trial, is only given ten minutes of action. What's he supposed to show in that amount of time? What's the point? On the right flank Beretovac was alternately useful and useless and was taken off at half time. Craig Naven replaced him, and all he managed to do was commit a dirty late tackle on a Dianella defender (who ended up having to come off) and then later get involved in a barney with another opponent. He showed a bit of spirit I suppose but that was all. Craig Naven is not a right back. The defence was atrocious. They were run all over the place by Dianella's sprightly attack. Both Wilkinson and Hay were poor. I was particularly disappointed in Hay, who started the match so well. Perhaps his injury is still bothering him. Shack played a shocker in the first half and his half-time replacement, Ithier, looked a bit wild with some of his tackles. If the defence plays like this against Adelaide City (who will field Mori and Trajanovski) we could be humiliated. Franken looked all right to me and pulled off a couple of good saves, but for Dianella's opener could have been a bit too far out of his goal. So believes Graham Lees, who has the video evidence to prove it! In any case he's still better than Tommy Maras. About the referee the less said the better, only that it was "Handy Andy" Gorton and he'll never stop grandstanding and strutting about as long as he has a whistle in his hand (and a white stick in the other). Instead of getting better Glory are getting worse. The cohesion tonight was less than it has ever been. Worse than that the team didn't seem to care. At best this is just plain unprofessional behaviour. At worst it's a crisis of morale. Dianella White Eagles are the weakest team Glory will play all season. On paper we will not have an easier match. If there isn't drastic improvement in very short time (four days to be exact) then we could be in for a bad season.