It’s ebbed and flowed on form and momentum but the four matches between Melbourne City and Perth Glory this season have each told their own story.
Perth Glory 3-1 Melbourne City (21 October 2015 – Westfield FFA Cup Semi Final)
After a tight Melbourne Derby loss, City travelled to Perth on a Wednesday night for a FFA Cup Semi Final. City conceded in the 24th minute and were forced to make an early change as Tando Velaphi left the field bloodied from a clash with Guyon Fernandez. Although City pegged one back through a debut goal to Matthew Millar, an own goal by Ben Garuccio and a second half strike to Chris Harold sealed the result that saw Perth progress to the final.
Melbourne City 5-1 Perth Glory (27 November 2015 – Hyundai A-League Round 8)
Everything just went right for City in late November when they put Kenny Lowe’s side to the sword at AAMI Park. Five different goalscorers found the back of the net as goals to Erik Paartalu, Bruno Fornaroli and Connor Chapman saw City take a two-goal cushion into the break with Sidnei’s strike just before the break pegging one back for the visitors. The late goal didn’t phase John van’t Schip side as Harry Novillo and Aaron Mooy added to the tally after the break seeing City begin a run of four games where they found the back of the net 16 times including a famous Melbourne Derby win.
Perth Glory 2-2 Melbourne City (16 January 2016 – Hyundai A-League Round 15)
It was an eventful mid-January fixture that saw Melbourne City lead in Perth twice only for the Glory to work their way back for a point. Erik Paartalu was the man again to give City the lead in the early stages of the match but Diego Castro’s brilliant set piece saw the sides level at the break. Aaron Mooy and Bruno Fornaroli combined to give us the lead early in the second half as Chris Harold fired from close range to secure an important point for the Glory.
Perth Glory 3-2 Melbourne City (3 April 2016 – Hyundai A-League Round 26)
After an impressive winning run that saw the Glory win the last 10 of their 11 regular season matches, Perth showed how important momentum was in the A-League with a commanding performance at home. In a tense first half, the floodgates opened after the break as Andy Keogh, Gyorgy Sandor and Diego Castro put Kenny Lowe’s side 3-0 to the good in a whirlwind 15 minutes. A brilliant individual effort from Bruno Fornaroli and a injury time goal to Marc Marino made the final minutes nervy for the hosts but Perth secured their place in the Finals with three points.
