Glory Finish W-League with a Bang

Two of the world’s best women’s strikers have ensured the Perth Glory finished the Westfield W-League season on a high note as they sunk the finals aspirations of the Melbourne Victory with a 2-0 win at Clipsal Stadium.

It’s was the Glory’s Matildas strike duo who did the damage with super sub Lisa De Vanna netting in the 81st minute before Katie Gill killed off the match six minutes later to delight the large crowd in attendance.

The win ensured the Glory set three new club records, a high point’s tally of 13, most wins in a season and also highest finishing position of sixth place.

“De Vanna, Kerr and Gill – It was a wonderful combination and that’s even possibly a national team combination going forward. I was pretty happy with that tonight” said a pleased John Gibson after the match.

“The team has done everything we have asked of them for the year. Again we talk about processes, skill sets and habits. They did that again today and they were fantastic, particularly when the other team had so much at stake.”

“Just after half time we lost our way a bit. We made a few adjustments and then we got on top of them again. It’s a credit to the girls. They have had some not so good experiences but they have learned from them this year.”

“The organisation and concentration was apparent tonight and it would have been good if we could have done that in some of the other games through the season” he said.

With Canberra United winning earlier in the day, the Melbourne Victory entered the match needing at least a point from the encounter to get their first taste of finals action but the Glory at home was to be a tough ask.

In stifling conditions, US import Julianne Sitch got the visitors off to a promising start three minutes in when she skipped past the Perth defence but her strike posed no problems for Emma Wirkus.

Sitch’s strike awoke the home side and the Glory produced their first opportunity of the match when the lively Elisa D’Ovidio latched onto the ball heading goal wards. With Melissa Barbieri advancing, the midfielder attempted to lob her only to place it over the bar.

Minutes later Sam Kerr had her first significant touch when she picked up a loose ball on the wing and crossed into the centre. The clearance fell to Ella Mastrantonio whose resulting 20 yard strike missed the upright by inches.

Weathering the initial flurry of chances, the visitors hit back when Vedrana Popovic released Sitch. Sitch’s shot was well gathered by Wirkus and the sides went in level at the break.

With plenty riding on the match, Melbourne came out the stronger with Katrina Gorry, Sitch and Selin Kuralay dominating possession and pinning Perth in their own half.

Four minutes after the restart Kuralay produced the Victory’s best chances of the match when her strike rattled the crossbar and momentarily the Glory defence. The rebound fell to Kuralay who then forced a reflex save from Wirkus.

Sensing a breakthrough, the Victory poured numbers forward and Wirkus sprung into action when Kuralay shot from close range.

With the visitors well on top, the game underwent a considerable change when John Gibson introduced Lisa De Vanna into the action with instant results.

De Vanna instigated the Glory’s first attack of the second half when, after picking up the ball inside Perth’s half, she raced away. The play eventually saw Mastrantonio collecting Gill’s blocked shot before putting Barbieri to work.

Despite the scare the Victory kept pressing and Monnique Hansen-Kofoed’s cross ensured Wirkus was kept busy when she was called to palm the ball away from the goalmouth.

After a penalty shout was ignored when Kerr appeared to be dragged down in the area, the Glory made the breakthrough three minutes later in trademark De Vanna style. The striker outpaced her marker and, with only Barbieri to beat, picked her spot to put Perth 1 – 0 up.

Looking for a point to keep their finals hopes alive, the Victory pushed numbers high up the park with no result. Not long after, the game was put beyond Melbourne’s reach as Katie Gill lobbed Melissa Barberi from distance to put the icing on the Perth cake.

Their season all but over Melbourne looked for a late consolation goal but, like their season, Marlies Oodstam’a long-range shot was close but not close enough.

The result was a fitting end to Glory’s season with the Perth side finishing just one point outside of the Top 4.

“People are obviously going to talk about Canberra; the 2 – 2 result in really trying conditions. However, there have been a whole lot of different moments and incidents throughout the year where could have got some points.”

“But where the group is at, at this point, I think it is a fantastic result for us to finish just a point outside of the four.”

“We knew that the middle part was going to be hard with the draw that we had but there are no excuses.”

– Football West