The Perth Glory Women are only the second team in Westfield W-League history to have defeated the Brisbane Roar after a sensational 2-1 win at Clipsal Stadium on Saturday.
In her debut in front of the Glory faithful, Matildas striker Katie Gill’s double cancelled out Courtney Beutel’s early strike to send the enthusiastic crowd home happy.
Perth coach John Gibson was full of praise for his side.
“Certainly we knew it would be a tough back end of the season but we trusted everything we have done this year and the girls worked really hard.”
“They deserve everything they got. We rode our luck a little bit at times but they just worked their backsides off for each other and that was fantastic” said Gibson.
“All the departments, from our defenders to our midfielders to our forwards, were fantastic today and it was really pleasing.”
In hot and difficult conditions, it looked like it would be a long day for the home side when they conceded early in the piece. Lana Harch’s through ball dissected the Perth defence on its way to Courtney Beutel. Beutel’s strike sailed over the head of the advancing Emma Wirkus to give the visitors the lead.
Despite going behind, the Perth side responded by maintaining possession and were finally rewarded in the 17th minute.
Midfielder Elisa D’Ovidio dispossessed the Roar in a 50/50 midfield battle and distributed to Sam Kerr on the wing. Kerr’s deep cross hit up a waiting Katie Gill at the back post and she headed home the equaliser and her first goal for the Glory.
Buoyed by the breakthrough, the home side looked to go ahead just minutes later when winger Dani Calautti’s cross spotted Kerr on the edge of the penalty area. However, Kerr’s well-guided header landed inches wide of the target.
Rattled, the defending champions hit back through a flurry of chances with Joanne Burgess shooting over the cross bar and Beutel just failing to get any purchase on a Harch cross.
The visitors came out of the break fired up and went close to taking the lead three minutes after the restart. Ellen Beaumont worked her way past the Glory defence before Wirkus denied her with a reflex near post save to keep the damage to a corner.
After the initial Brisbane dominance the match settled into an even contest before Perth eventually made the decisive breakthrough.
After winning the corner for Perth, Gill latched on the loose ball in the penalty area and the forward had no problem dispatching a volley back past Dumont to send the crowd into raptures.
Minutes later the home side had a golden opportunity to put the game to bed but enough pressure was applied to Elisa D’Vidio resulting in the midfielder placing her shot high and wide.
The Roar mounted a final challenge for a point but it was Gill who denied them as this time she cleared Elise Kellond-Knight’s effort on the goal line.
“Katie did exceptionally well for us today. She is a wonderful asset to the group and adds a bit of experience and some leadership. It was quality play today by her and Sam [Kerr] and it was good to see.”
“For us now it is about getting positive results and moving forward. We have a really young group so I am looking forward to progressing with them next year.”
Perth will host Melbourne Victory in the final match of the season on Saturday 5 December at Clipsal Stadium from 5.15pm. The match is a double header with the Perth Glory Youth taking on Brisbane Roar at 3.00pm.
– Football West
