Two goals from Nick Mrdja gave Perth Glory the win against Melbourne Knights at Somers Street on Sunday, lifting Glory to second in the NSL, with an awesome series of home-based fixtures still to come.
"We miss playing in front of our supporters, and we miss playing at home," said Glory coach Mitch D'Avray after the game as he considered the lop-sided fixture list that has his side playing almost all his remaining games in Perth, after spending the first half of the season as travellers. "(But) I don't think it's going to be as easy as some people think. In Perth the expectations are so high - we are expected to win every game. There's a lot of pressure."
"Individual mistakes cost us," said Knights' coach Ian Dobson at the post-match media conference. "They've had four good scoring opportunities, and yet only created one of them as far as I was concerned."
The skies above Knights Stadium were dark both in reality and metaphorically. The western-suburbs club had earlier in the week indicated it would not seek admission into next year's revamped NSL ending a proud period of Knights competing at national level. A long-threatened thunderstorm chose to break during the match sending buckets of rain into the faces of the players.
Glory was compelled to make two late changes to its starting eleven. Bobby Despotovski had declined to make the trip across the Nullabor fearing his actions in a Somers Street match two seasons ago put his personal safety into jeopardy. Then - minutes before kick-off - D'Avray had to replace deadly striker Damian Mori for Tom Pondeljak as Mori had reported a knee-injury D'Avray suspects is an arthritic condition.
"He was alright at lunch, (but) after lunch his knee was sore," said D'Avray. "It's a gout that's affected (his) joints."
Despite these line-up changes, Glory had the better of the early moments of the game, with Knights forced into taking on the role traditionally assigned to the away team - looking to take its chances on the counter-attack and playing only Kris Trajanovski as a lone striker.
"I played one striker with two in behind: Andrew Vargas and Ante Pelikan - and that's been quite successful in the away performances," said Dobson. "We probably looked more dangerous when we were breaking from deep."
Glory's grip on the game was evident when it crafted a good opportunity just eleven minutes in. Jade North had made good ground down the right before sending in a pin-point cross to the penalty-spot. Mrdja rose highest and won a header under challenge which he directed low and to the post. Giant Knights' goalkeeper Vilson Knezevic belied his size and was smartly down to save.
The pressure eventually told, and although the goal was a surprise, the fact that it came from Glory was not. Just after the half-hour, Mrdja launched a left-foot 30 metre drive as the Knights' defenders backed off in front of him which arrowed into the top left corner. Knezevic was totally unable to react until it had whistled by him and smacked into the net. It was a stunning goal which will feature on Mrdja's highlights tape for many years.
"It was unstoppable," said D'Avray after the game. "I don't think any goalkeeper would have got that."
Just fifteen minutes before, Mrdja had indicated his intentions with a similar shot - this time on the turn from 20 metres - which flashed only centimetres by the post.
The first fifteen minutes of the second half was played in torrential rain. A storm, threatened all afternoon, broke - seemingly directly above the stadium and making playing conditions extremely difficult.
As the sheets of water fell, Knezevic was compelled to dive full-stretch to divert a drive from Brad Hassell around the corner after a Knights' possession error gifted the ball to the burly midfielder mid-pitch. With Mrdja making a decoy run to his left, Hassell was given time and space to make a run and loose his goal-bound shot.
This seemed to spur Knights, and from then on Knights took on a more attacking formation and committed more resources to attacking play. Knights' first shot came with just twenty minutes to play. Trajanovski took advantage of a looping cross from Tomi Razov. Glory goalkeeper Jason Petkovic had to dive low to reach it.
Minutes later, tentative defending by Glory - perhaps unused to the grip of the game being wrested from its control - almost did for Knights what Knights could not do on it own account. Hassell dealt with a threatening situation by heading back to Petkovic, requiring the long-serving goalkeeper to leap and touch it over the bar.
"At one-nil at half-time we were in the game," said Dobson. 'The twenty-minute spell after half-time we had good possession (creating) a couple of half-opportunities, but then we killed the game for ourselves by allowing that second goal."
The second goal put an end to Knights' prospects. Mrdja doubled the lead as well as his season's tally to date when he was first to a speculative high forward ball played by Scott Miller. Mrdja benefitted from uncertain defending from Knezevic and Steve Pantelidis and sent his first-time volley low by Knezevic.
"(The win) was important," said D'Avray "Because - with Mori and Despotovski out - we needed the players to stand up and be counted today."