In front of a disappointing 11,113 people the first Perth leg of the A - League kicked off with the match between the home side and Central Coast Mariners.
Even before a ball was kicked the home supporters were in shock with the news that crowd favourite Matty Horsley did not even make the squad for the match. This despite the fact that he was regarded as Man of the Match in 2 of the last 3 Glory games.
Also missing was Naum Sekulovski with a hamstring injury, but that was balanced with the inclusion of import Brian Deane from the start of the match. Also back for Glory were Bobby Despotovski and Steve McMahon Jnr from suspension and Jamie Harnwell from injury.
The Glory supporters gave a warm welcome back to two of their former heroes in Tom Pondeljak and Andre Gumprecht. What made the game more interesting was the fact that both these players had a severe effect on the outcome.
With Nick Mrdja out with an injured knee last weeks goal scorer hero Stewart Petrie was given a start.
The game started brightly enough for Glory who were playing a very unusual for them formation of 4 3 3 , with Deans and Despotovski joined up front by Hnery Fa'arodo. To say that coach McMahon's experiment was a dismal failure would be an understatement, as for the first 45 minutes of the game, Glory had no shape or system to their play.
They created half chances but that was mainly because of the heading ability of Deane as the balls were pumped in his direction. It was ugly football at its worst and will in no way attract the missing fans back to the MES.
Chances in the first half were not clear cut and the best ones were falling to the Mariners.
In the 10th minute a corner for Mariners was knocked back to the penalty spot where an unmarked Pondeljak fired over the bar. That this exact play was repeated in the 24th minute is testament to Glory's inability to learn from past mistakes.
In between Glory's best player Billy Celeski had fired in a low cross following a corner but Fa'arodo failed to get a decisive touch and the ball went narrowly wide.
Gumprecht had also created a chance for the Mariners when he crossed from the left to Petrie but last weeks hero hit the ball wide with Glory 'keeper Jason Petkovic well beaten.
After 26 minutes a corner from the Mariners right was punched into his own goal by Petkovic but to everyone's surprise in the crowd the referee picked an infringement against the custodian and the goal was disallowed.
Petkovic did come to Glory's rescue in the 39th minute when Pondeljak released Damien Brown in the penalty area but his well struck shot was well saved by the keeper.
At half time coach McMahon admitted his formation mistake replacing the ineffective Fa'arodo with Adrian Caceres and almost immediately Glory looked better. However due to the fact that their midfield was most ineffective things quickly reverted back to the Mariners controlling the game. Half chances were created but in the 65th minute the Mariners dealt the crucial blow.
The ball was worked on the right hand side by the Mariners, and with nobody in the Glory midfield picking up Noel Spencer, he hammered the ball from 25 metres into the top right hand corner of the net with Petkovic unable to get anywhere near it. It was a goal that deserved to win a match.
Glory's best chance of an equaliser came in the 76th minute from a corner on the right which Deane beat the keeper to the ball only to see it cleared off the line. Just 2 minutes later Hiroyuki Ishida who came on a substitute for the injured Scott Miller squandered a half chance as he fired over following a Caceres cross.
So the first 2 matches of the A-League finished with the visiting sides both recording 1-0 away victories. Based on the evidence in Perth the home side has a long way to go, the midfield was basically non existent with star recruit Simon Colosimo continuing his horror run of form, with him being substituted in the 79th minute by Nick Ward.
I am sure the people of Perth are asking the question as to why the local side did not make a serious effort to sign the midfield pairing of Pondeljak and Gumprecht as they were the difference tonight.
The future looks much brighter for the Mariners who will be a much better side once Mrdja comes back in - as coach Lawrie McKinna was quick to point out that if Mrdja played he would have expected some of the chances they created tonight to be converted.
All Glory coach McMahon could say was that he had to take the blame for the system that he played although he did put the case forward that systems do not win matches and he felt the players were also at fault.