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Perth Glory 2 Melbourne City 3
Three goals in ten lethal minutes, midway through the first half, were enough for City to head home with three valuable points in their quest for second place.
But first they had to withstand a resurgent Glory who hit back with two goals of their own in the second half and were only denied an equaliser by the woodwork.
The result sees City consolidate second place in the A-League table while Glory slip to fourth behind Wellington Phoenix who won today.
Both teams started the game determined to play a possession game and press high up the pitch when their opponents had the ball.
This was the pattern for the first quarter hour or so until Perth began to dominate the possession.
But for all their domination Glory failed to carve out any clear-cut chances.
Meanwhile, City were finding the left flank a promising trade route with wing-back Scott Jamieson and winger Craig Noone showing their entrepreneurial spirit by exporting some dangerous crosses into the box.
One of these forays resulted in a corner for City on the left on. The ball fell to former Glory captain Rostyn Griffiths. The City defender miscued, then pirouetted to slam the ball home.
On the half hour mark City had doubled their lead with Florin Berenguer flighting a powerful shot into Liam Reddy’s top left corner.
Jamieson showed great vision at the edge of the box, spotting Markel Susaeta’s run and threading a perfectly weighted ball that sliced through the Glory defence, gratefully gobbled up by the Basque winger.
Ten terrible minutes for Glory left them staring down the barrel of a gun at 0-3 with 34 minutes on the clock, and so the score line remained till the half time whistle.
It looked like a long way back for gutless Glory.
Glory coach Tony Popovic rung the changes at half time bringing on his son Kristian to midfield and Ivan Franjic replacing the ineffectual Tarek Elrich at right wing back.
Galvanised Glory started the second half with a sense of purpose that eluded them in the first period and it didn’t take long for this to bear fruit.
In the 53rd minute Franjic sent a cross for former City favourite Bruno Fornaroli whose header to Joel Chianese was gleefully converted.
Twelve minutes later, Fornaroli helped himself to a slice of the action reducing the deficit to one goal. Mesmerising approach play by Diego Castro allowed Chianese to play provider this time and return the favour to Fornaroli, who obviously relished clocking one up against his old team.
The fans were served up a treat for the last half hour with Glory pursuing the elusive equaliser, frustrated by the woodwork, the aptly named City ‘keeper Thomas Glover and the stalwart City defenders.
But somehow City held on to secure a narrow victory and an important three points, putting them in pole position for second place and the coveted home final that goes with it.
