All good things must come to an end. Eight games in, Fortress Macedonia was conquered for the first time by the ladder leaders Melbourne City in what was a close but controversial contest.
In my mind the 4-2 scoreline doesn’t accurately reflect the significant strides Ruben Zadkovich has made with his team since our last match against the reigning champions.
At AAMI Park in November, we were thrashed. Beaten 4-0 without throwing a punch, one shot for the whole game. The gap in quality is still there, but there is no questioning the mental strength and determination the Glory showed in adversity on Saturday night.
Preventing City from being comfortable on the ball when they had it and stopping the counterattack when they won it back were the two keys to keeping us in the game, and I thought we managed to do both very well for most of the game. Against the best team in the league though, any error will get punished and unfortunately we made a few in some crucial moments.
Jordan Bos opened the scoring in a piece of play Antonee Burke and Mustafa Amini will not look back on fondly. Receiving the ball out wide from Richard van der Venne, the young full back cut inside and managed to squeeze in between the two Glory players and curl an effort into the far corner past a stranded Cameron Cook. Burke and Amini don’t need telling twice: they have to close down the space much better.
Bos was electric throughout the first half, constantly terrorising the Glory defence and fans whenever he was in possession. Burke struggled to deal with his blistering pace and was caught out on multiple occasions, and it didn’t come as a shock when he was subbed out at half time for Johnny Koutroumbis.
Bos wasn’t the only left back to put in a good performance. I had my doubts about him early in the season, but Jack Clisby has been one of our most consistent players and I was happy to see him back in the starting line up. He marked his return with a second goal of the season, whipping a free kick into a pile of bodies and managing to get it past everyone from a tight angle.
Going in level at the break was a fair reflection of the first half, an even contest which set the stage for a thrilling second 45. Right on the hour mark, the game took a drastic turn with a sending off. Andrew Nabbout cleared a ball from his own box to the halfway line. Jamie Maclaren won the flick on to Mathew Leckie who was through on goal. Darryl Lachman was the last defender and was adjudged to have fouled Leckie in the box. Daniel Elder pointed to the spot and sent Lachman on his way.
By the rulebook, it is a denial of a goal scoring opportunity. Tim Payne’s red card in the Distance Derby was similar, and I thought that was a harsh call and just a yellow. If it had been Thomas Lam, Scott Jamieson or any other City player, my opinion would be the same. The punishment doesn’t fit the crime and it was a big blow in the context of the game.
Valon Berisha stepped up and put it away convincingly in the corner to restore City’s lead. Down to 10 for the last half hour, I liked Zadkovich’s decision to switch to a back four rather than stay with a five and take off one of our midfielders or attackers. We had to play positively in order to grab an unlikely equaliser and it paid off with just under 20 minutes to go.
A long ball from Mark Beevers down the line was chased down by Keegan Jelacic, who had another great game in midfield. Cutting back onto his right foot, he put in a peach of a cross for David Williams. The Glory’s top scorer timed his jump to perfection and guided the header on target giving Thomas Glover no chance of saving it.
The thrill of equalising with 10 men didn’t last long. Minutes later, a high ball from a corner was met with an attempted punch from Cook. Failing to clear it away from safety, Leckie made him pay with an acrobatic bicycle kick to make it 3-2.
Cook has received a lot of love from the Glory faithful thus far and for good reason, but his last few games have not met the standard we know he can perform to. A few errors have crept in, and he was lucky not to have been punished by van der Venne in the first half when he left the goal gaping after a scuffed pass.
The dying stages were met with frustration at a few calls which didn’t go our way and a fourth goal for City to kill off the game. Florian Berenguer’s flick opened the field for Leckie to run at the Glory defence. His pass back to Berenguer was inch perfect; the Frenchman tapping the ball past Cook to put the game out of reach.
City are now the only team in the league undefeated at home. Now eight points clear with a game in hand, it’s difficult to see anyone catching them in the race for the Premiers Plate. Bos was brilliant and almost certainly will be overseas sooner rather than later. Leckie popped up in the moments that mattered, contributing a goal, an assist and winning the penalty on the hour mark.
The positives from the game outweigh the negatives for the Glory. The team showed they can match it with the best in the league, fighting all the way to the end. The process is making good progress but there’s still a way to go. In crucial moments we weren’t good enough and some of the decisions that went against us were questionable. I’m still struggling to determine who was offside in the penalty which got overturned and how they affected play.
Either way, focus and attention moves to our penultimate match in Balcatta against the second placed Mariners. They’re a very different side from the one which we beat 2-1 in Gosford in Round 3, and will provide another touch challenge on our path to get back into the top six. The gap is still extremely close, three points would make a huge difference and see us regain momentum having gone winless in our last three.
