Melbourne Heart FC fell 1-0 to Hyundai A-League opponent Perth Glory in the Red and White’s latest pre-season hit-out last night.
Melbourne Heart FC fell 1-0 to Hyundai A-League opponent Perth Glory in the Red and White’s latest pre-season hit-out last night.
Perth prevailed 1-0 at Intiga Stadium in Western Australia in ferocious weather conditions.
Both Melbourne Heart FC Head Coach John Aloisi and Perth coach Alistair Edwards opted to field youthful starting line-ups in the first of this week’s two scheduled meetings.
Perth struck the game’s solitary goal in the ninth minute.
Melbourne Heart lost possession as they attempted to build through central midfield, the ball ricocheted straight through to Jamie Maclaren and he raced clear before beating ‘keeper Tando Velaphi.
Glory were handed an opportunity to double their lead from the penalty spot seven minutes later.
Maclaren’s penalty was well hit towards the bottom left-hand corner of the goal, but Velaphi proved equal to it by producing a great one-handed save.
Velaphi continued to keep the home side at bay by tipping Jack Clisby-s long range effort onto the post on the half-hour mark.
The second-half began in a low key manner after a torrential downpour during the interval caused the pitch to deteriorate, but Glory continued to look the more likely and went close to making it 2-0 just after the hour mark.
This time it was Ryo Nagai who forced yet another fine save from Velaphi and only some last-gasp defending prevented Sidnei from firing home the rebound.
Brandon O-Neill was the next to try his luck for the hosts, finding himself some space and firing in a long-range strike which Velaphi kept out and moments later.
Melbourne Heart FC faces Perth Glory at Hyundai Stadium this Saturday 14 September.
Match Details
Perth Glory 1 (Maclaren 9′)
Melbourne Heart FC 0
Intiga Stadium, Perth, WA
Perth Glory FC Squad: Nick Feely (GK), Matthew Davies, Jack Clisby, Brandon O-Neill, Dean Evans, Steve Pantelidis (C), Cameron Edwards, Adrian Zahra (Ryo Nagai 59′), Daniel De Silva (Ryan Edwards 79′), Sidnei Sciola, Jamie Maclaren (Harry O-Brien 46′)
Substitutes not used: Danny Vukovic (GK), Jacob Burns, Ljubo Milicevic, Steven McGarry, Josh Risdon, Scott Jamieson, Michael Thwaite
Melbourne Heart FC: Tando Velaphi (GK), Jeremy Walker, Samuel Mitchinson, Patrick Gerhardt (Massimo Murdocca 46′), Iain Ramsay, Jonatan Germano (Phil Petreski 60′), David Williams (Marcus Schroen 60′), David Vrankovic, Benjamin Garuccio, Stefan Mauk, Ross Archibald
Substitutes not used: Andrew Redmayne (GK)
