Glory v Sydney

A-League report by Ben Fitzpatrick
Perth Glory v Sydney FC


It was a case of show us your unavailable players list for both sides at Members Equity Stadium on Sunday as the Perth Glory and Sydney FC produced a listless 0-0 draw in front of only 7907 fans on a perfect spring day.

With the decision of the FFA to continue the league schedule despite the International fixtures, Glory and Sydney shared a huge list of unavailable players due to call ups or injuries.

Some of the bigger names included Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Simon Colosimo and Billy Celeski for the Glory whilst Sydney where missing Clint Bolton, Alex Brosque, Ruben Zadkovich as well as the inured Juninho, and there was no doubt that the reduction of quality on the pitch resulted in what was an instantly forgettable match for those who bothered to turn up.

For the Glory supporters, it's now a case of singing "give us a goal" as they saw their side record their third consecutive 0-0 draw, two of which have been on their home pitch.

The news is not much better for the entire competition, with only two sides having managed to win a game after three completed rounds of the Hyundai A-League, with the current round only seeing four goals scored, all of which were from set pieces.

Despite the perfect sunshine on offer, neither side could take their chances and record what would have been their first victory with some profligate finishing ensuring each would keep a clean sheet.

David Zdrillic found himself with no less than six decent opportunities on goal throughout the match but failed to trouble the Glory keeper Tommi Tomich on each occasion.

The Glory were patient for much of the match, content to control the tempo and work an opening but after getting into some promising positions, found their final ball lacking of the quality required to fashion a genuine scoring chance.

In one rare flowing move, an Anthony Danze 20 metre pile driver whistled over the bar following some fine build up play from Bertos and Rukavytsya.

The half time break finally brought some more entertaining fare, with the teenage Glory girl dancers thrusting their pelvises to the latest top 10 chart songs whilst a 40-something woman with big hair and skin tight leopard print pants was paraded around the oval in a car, quite why nobody could be certain. Surely a pitch that was already cut up following three rugby union matches on it the previous day could do without this sort of activity?

With the real action resuming, "The Shed", Perth Glory's vocal fans, began to chant for cult hero Jamie Harnwell to be introduced to the game and obviously got their point across to Ron Smith, as the big defender turned striker was introduced on 64 minutes but failed to make any sort of impact apart from sending a header onto the roof of the net after a blocked Rukavytsya shot.

Leo Bertos was impressive for the Glory and sent one fizzing low ball across the six yard area and narrowly wide of the upright with no-one able to get a touch to the ball.

Sydney though had a much improved second half performance and had Zdrillic's radar been tuned in, may have found himself on the scoresheet or at the very least forcing Tomich to earn his wage.

The quality of the match was summed up five minutes before full time after a pin point cross from Naum Sekulovski picked out the marauding debutant Jordan Simpson but he horribly miskicked his volley wide from 12 yards to condemn the crowd to another blank return, with many opting to beat the traffic home rather than stay for the final whistle.