In front of a very disappointing 8,509 spectators at MES tonight Perth Glory at last delivered their home support their first A-League victory.
It was the old faithful in Bobby Despotovski who delivered the vital goals, with 2 class finishes in the 54th and 73rd minutes of the game.
This made it a very happy 24 hours for the veteran striker as his wife presented him with their 3rd child, a boy called Sebastian last night. Bobby was quick to point out that it was he who asked to be substituted as he had hit the wall after having little or no sleep the night before. This makes his feat all the more exceptional.
The match itself was after a quiet opening 25 minutes a real end to end game, with a total of 32 strikes at goal of which 13 were on target.
The post was hit 3 times in the game and there was a missed penalty. If this type of entertainment keeps up the crowds will be flocking to the new A-League.
In the first half it was Roar who were the better side, with Brosque and Baird looking very keen up front and giving the Glory backline a very hard time. In the 25th minute it was Brosque who weaved his way around the edge of the Glory box before firing from 20 metres out, only to see his shot hit the left hand goal post and go wide, with Petkovic beaten all ends up.
Just 2 minutes later though it was the Roars turn to thank the goalpost as a Colosimo low free kick was met by Harnwell running it but steered onto the post and up into the grateful arms of Higgins. Higgins was a surprise inclusion for Willis in the Roar goal, especially after Willis's man of the match performance the week before, but this was explained by coach Miron Bleiberg as a simple case of rotating each of his 20 man squad so that they can be ready in case of injury.
On the 30 minute mark it was Roar coming forward with Brosque again causing the danger, getting to the bye-line and pulling the ball back only for it to be cleared for a corner by Harnwell.
In the 32nd minute it was Baird splitting the Glory defence to set up Brosque with a one on one with Petkovic but the Glory keeper showed his class with a fine save.
The Roar continued to press forward for the remainder of the half but their shooting was wayward, with Brosque, Su Seo and Baird all having snap shots that were wide of the Glory goal. On the one occasion where they did get a shot on target, from a free kick, once more Petkovic was equal to the task.
The second half maintained the tempo of the first and in the 47th minute a great through ball was chased down by Brosque but Petkovic managed to get to it and from the resultant spill the ball fell to Baird who shot high and wide.
On the 50th minute a clever one two with Despotovski and Caceres finished with the former firing in a shot that was well saved by Higgins.
Just 2 minutes later it was up the other end and following good interplay with Brosque and Baird , the final shot from Baird was brilliantly turned over the bar by Petkovic.
In the 54th minute Glory took the lead, when Colosimo played a deft ball to Despotovski just outside the penalty area, he found the space and time to control and fire a great shot into the bottom right of the Roar goal with Higgins left stranded by his defence.
Within 1 minute it should have been 2, when again following a Colosimo pass, Despotovski had his run stopped by a defender handling the ball in the area. The resultant penalty hit the outside of the post and went wide. A bad miss indeed. However the striker made amends on 73 minutes when after Deane found Coyne on the right, his cross eluded both defenders and attackers to land at the feet of Despotovski who this time made no mistake as he easily beat Higgins to give Glory a 2 nil lead.
If Glory thought they were going to coast to victory they got a rude awakening just 5 minutes later when substitute Moon linked up with Brosque to tear the heart of out the Glory defence and Moon finished with a good shot between Petkovic and his goal post to bring the Roar back into the game.
Try as the might after that though Roar could not get the killer punch in and just failed to peg back the Glory who were delighted with the win.
After the game a happy Steve McMahon said he was happy with the 2nd half after he told his side to relax at half time, he expressed satisfaction with the performance of Colosimo even if he felt he was at fault for the Roar goal, he also stated that it was a very even competition and that this win would give the side great confidence.
Roar coach the very likeable Miron Bleiberg, said that he had no complaints, that glory deserved to win because they took their chances and his team did not. While accepting his forwards were faster than Glory's he said tonight he would swap the speed for the great finishing of Despotovski.