For the 3rd week in a row Perth Glory took to the road or should I say air and like the previous week came back with all 3 points. To say this was an interesting and entertaining match would be an under statement.
The first half was thrilling end to end stuff with 7 goals and some terrible defending, while the 2nd half was a display of complete control by the NSL champions.
The unfortunate thing about this match is that it only attracted 2867 spectators to Pittwater Park. The small crowd barely had time to settle in their seats when the Glory defence could not cut out a cross by Petrie that found its way to Macallister who in turn laid it off to O'Sullivan who found the net with a well placed shot.
This appeared to be the start the Spirit wanted as they took control of the game and would not let the Glory midfield settle on the ball. However in the 11th minute part of that Glory midfield in Pondeljak made a break, played the ball to Despotovski, he in turn threaded a through ball to the onrushing Hassell who rounded the keeper before laying the ball off to the supporting Pondeljak who finished with a shot high into the net.
Before Spirit had time to settle and again following good work by Hassell it was Mori who struck a shot sweetly from the edge of the penalty area and bent it into the bottom corner of the goal to make the score 2-1 in Glory's favor.
Just 2 minutes later it Horsley who chased a seemingly lost cause of a long ball and stuck his foot in to prevent Tomasevic clearing the ball, which found its way to Despotovski who easily rounded the keeper before finishing cleanly.
With Glory leading 3-1 after only 14 minutes a rout looked on the cards, but Spirit showed great mettle as they fought their way back into the match. After 34 minutes a Macallister cross was powerfully headed towards goal by Petrie, Petkovic in the Glory goal did well to stop the header, however O'Sullivan was quickest to react and fired the rebound home to get the home team back in the match.
The revival was complete just 4 minutes later when again Macallister broke through the Glory defence, had a shot that was again only partially saved by Petkovic and this time it was Osman who was on hand to get the equaliser.
Just when everybody was taking a breather in anticipation of the half time whistle Hassell found himself inexplicably on the end of a long ball by Despotovski and skipped around the out of position keeper Henderson before slotting the ball into the empty net to give Glory the 4-3 half time lead.
The 2nd half started exactly as the first finished with Glory on the attack and Hassell scoring. This time it was shooting from the edge of the box after being set up by Pondeljak to give Glory a 5-3 lead.
Although that may have been the end of the scoring it was not the end of the excellent play by Glory. They totally dominated the 2nd 45 minutes and created a string of great chance that alas were all spurned. Chances went begging to Pondlejak, Hassell, Shroj Caceras and Mori, either by missing the goal, saves by Henderson or even in Mori's case by hitting the crossbar.
The Glory coaching staff could only be happy with the endeavor and play in the 2nd half especially as this was the 3rd match in a row on the road.
As for Spirit, well after a promising first half the second must have been a great disappointment to Their coaching staff.