A crowd of 12,796 attended the final home game of the season for Perth Glory as they failed in their mission to win the last 2 matches in order to secure a top 4 finish and went down by the odd goal in 3 to Sydney FC.
The first half performance of the home side must rate as one of the most insipid for this season, and considering some of the home performances that is saying something.
The home side did not have a chance until 40 minutes in and then it fell to their left back Miller who failed to convert a chance created by Despotovski from 1 meter out, as his attempt was saved by Bolton.
Before that chance it had been all Sydney, who themselves had not won a match since their return from the World Club Championships in Japan. But today and especially in the first half they toyed with Glory and should have gone to the break with at least a 3 goal lead instead of the 2 they went with.
From the start they dominated possession and took the lead after 14 minutes, when a complete misunderstanding in the heart of the Glory defense gifted Rudan the opening score. A cross from Carney appeared not as though it would not cause any problems to Petkovic, but when he stayed on his line and Hay failed to clear Rudan to stoop and head home between the 2 Glory players.
If that did not upset the home crowd they could just applaud the 2nd Sydney goal when a sweeping move finished with a great pass by Bingley which set up Under 20 International Zadkovich, starting in his first game, hitting a superb curling shot past the helpless Petkovic.
Following Millers 40th minute miss Carney from Sydney missed from just 3 meters out when set up by a rampant Yorke when it looked easier to score.
At half time Glory coach replaced the ineffective Sekulovski with Caceres and Colosimo with Ishida with an almost immediate effect. In the opening minute of the 2nd half Caceres made a darting run at the Sydney defense and as he made his way into the box he was pulled back and down by Milligan, for referee Zetter to point to the spot for a penalty. Much to the disappointment of the home fans, striker Despotovski, as he admitted after, changed his mind mid run and had his shot saved at the post by Bolton.
This start appeared to spur Glory and they pulled a goal back after 53 minutes, when Ishida's cross to the far post found Despotovski and this time he made no mistake with a cool finish.
Just 7 minutes later the scores should have been tied but an out of sorts Mori blazed an excellent chance high, wide and not so handsome when a simple finish would have sufficed. Try as they might after that Glory just could not get the equalizer and in fact but for a superb Harnwell tackle with 18 minutes remaining Carney could have made it 3-1.
So the season finishes for Glory in the same disappointing way that is started back in May for the world club qualifier, with Sydney winning 2-1.
Sydney though move up to 2nd spot and will have a large say in the outcome of the A-League championship, with next Fridays encounter against Adelaide, possibly a dress rehearsal for the Grand Final.
For Glory it is back to the drawing board and as coach Vest said after the match, he does not want to coach "That Lot". It is indeed a sad indictment on the club that there is such a fractured relationship within the club, with players believing other players are not giving 100%. It looks as though the off season may be a very long and bleak one for the one time glamour club of Australia.