A-League Men: Perth Glory fall to last place on the ladder after 3-1 loss to cellar-dwellars Brisbane Roar

Perth Glory appear destined for back-to-back A-League Men’s wooden spoons after they surrendered an early lead to fall 3-1 to Brisbane Roar at HBF Park. With five games to go, Perth’s defeat allowed Brisbane to leapfrog them on the ladder and condemn Glory to the foot of the table. While the two sides are now level on points, the Roar have a far superior goal difference of 19 and more importantly, two games in hand on Perth. It was the game no Glory fan wanted to lose, particularly with ex-Perth coach Ruben Zadkovich on the sidelines for the opposition, and they got off to the perfect start through Luke Amos’ seventh-minute stunner. But Asumah Abubakar levelled the scores before the break, and Samuel Klein compounded matters after half-time when he volleyed home a corner. The second goal took the wind out of Perth’s sails and while they willed themselves forward, desperate for an equaliser, they were too predictable as Brisbane easily repelled their waves of hopeful long balls and overly-optimistic crosses. Klein put the excalamation point on the win with a delightful curling effort late, but a Perth goal never came — the boos, however, did at full-time, six months of anguish pouring out of The Shed and all corners of the ground. Ironically, the game between the competition’s two cellar dwellers started with a moment of sheer brilliance by Amos, who played a clever one-two with Adam Taggart before unleashing a heat-seeking missile from nearly 30 yards out which found the net via the bar. Perhaps expectedly for a game which had a wooden spoon effectively at stake, there was some friction between the two teams, with Perth defender Tomi Mrcela in the thick of it and Jack Hingert booked for his actions after Taggart was clattered mid-air. Perth were not threatening Matt Acton’s goal often but they looked more confident going forward than Brisbane, with Nikola Mileusnic’s pace causing the Roar defence problems. Tass Mourdoukoutas should have made it 2-0 in the 24th minute when he met a corner, but he could not get enough purchase on his header from a few yards out. Taggart then knocked Lachie Wales’ cut-back straight at Acton, although the linesman had already flagged for offside. However, as has been the case with Perth this season, they switched off and were punished in the 37th minute as an unmarked Keegan Jelacic was able to receive from a throw-in and switch play before continuing his run. While Jelacic’s shot once he was in the box was blocked, the ball fell to Abubakar-Ankrah, who poked home the equaliser. Brisbane ended the first half the better of the two sides, although Mileunsnic almost restored Glory’s lead when his volley bounced wide. The Roar took the lead six minutes into the second half when Abubkakar rose highest at a corner and knocked into Klein’s path, who smashed the ball past Oli Sail. The lingering sense of dread in the crowd materialised, and frustration seeped into the fans’ yells through a combination of Brisbane time-wasting and Glory inadequacy. Yuto Misao had a golden chance to level when Roar goalkeeper Acton punched a cross to him, but he skied his attempt over the bar. Perth continued pressing, but there was a sense of inevitability about the result and it was left to Klein to pile more misery on Glory fans in the 89th minute.