A valiant performance from Perth Glory has failed to reap the rewards they may have deserved after being beaten by a first half goal from Adelaide United in their Boxing Day clash at Members Equity Stadium.
A magnificent crowd of 12,581 people turned out to show their support for Perth's push to the finals and were treated to a hard fought contest with the Glory leaving nothing on the pitch in a never say die performance.
The Reds' winner came from the boot of midfielder Kristian Sarkies in the 40th minute, slotting home his first goal of the season. The result was not set until the final minutes of the match, with Reds goalkeeper Eugene Galekovic making two outstanding saves in the dying minutes to deny a late Perth charge and ensure all of the points were heading back across the Nullabor.
Glory had their chances with Eugene dadi heading wide of a fine cross from the right by Adrian Pellegrino, Nick Rizzo unable to beat Galevokic with his strike as the custodian dropped quickly on the shot, and Dadi again the cuplrit as he sent a chance over the crossbar from right in front.
Good lead up work by Paul Reid, Robbie Younis, and Christiano opened the opportunity for Sarkies to exploit.
At the end Naum Sekulovski got away down the left and whipped in a delightful cross, Harnwell rose above his marker to power a towering header on goal but Galekovic somehow managed to dive full length and get enough on the ball to deflect it around the post.
Adelaide Coach Aurelio Vidmar was delighted to take three points away from home during a testing period of the season. "I'm extremely pleased. It's never an easy period through Christmas and certainly it makes it all worthwhile travelling on Christmas Day and picking up three points," Vidmar said. "There was a lot of pressure right throughout the game and Perth played exceptionally well."