For the first time in his tenure as Perth Glory coach, Stephen Peters has won back-to-back games, as his Perth Glory side secured a gritty 1-0 win against Adelaide United at the Sam Kerr Centre last Sunday.
The manner of the victory was almost identical to the 1-0 win against Wellington Phoenix in the previous round, with the home team living off scraps of possession but keeping their opponents scoreless with some dogged and resolute defending.
Playing with a strong breeze at their back for the opening stanza, Glory were guilty of an over-dependence on the long ball, which led to multiple turnovers. Adelaide were the dominant team in terms of possession and chances created, but were guilty of wayward finishing and they were made to pay for this in the 39th minute.
Bronte Trew chipped a ball into the box, which was not dealt with by the visitors defence with the ball eventually falling to Rola Badawiya. The American import made no mistake from close range as she scored her 3rd goal of the campaign and gave her side the lead.
The second half started brightly for the home team with Trew going close in the 50th minute, but the remainder of the game saw Adelaide once again dominating possession. However, they were still unable to seriously threaten Glory, who stood firm in defence with Julia Sardo and Tijan McKenna having fine games.
Glory were still capable of mounting pressure of their own, though, and in a rare counterattacking move in the 84th minute Susan Phonsongkham was put clear but her curling shot just went past the post.
Adelaide had just about run out of steam by this stage and there was little for the home crowd to get excited about as Glory were content to run the clock down and take the three points.
Glory Opting For Function Over Style
For the second week running, Glory adopted a conservative, defence-first approach, sitting deep and absorbing pressure. With both first-choice centre backs Zogg and Naomi Chinnama unavailable, coach Stephen Peters had little choice but to rely on the inexperienced pairing of McKenna and Mischa Anderson, who showed tremendous resilience and rewarded their coaches faith in them with gritty and disciplined defending.
Teresa Morrissey was solid once again in goal, while the experienced Sardo produced one of her best performances in a Glory shirt.
The two consecutive clean sheets are the first time they have achieved this since Rounds 1 and 2 of the 2023–24 season, a stark improvement on the opening five matches of the campaign.
However, the numbers highlight the limitations of this approach. Glory managed just 37 per cent possession and eight shots, compared to Adelaide’s 17. While results are paramount, it’s unlikely they can sustain success with so little of the ball over the long term.
The style may be effective for now, but it’s not particularly attractive for home supporters. At some point, Glory will need to find a balance — maintaining their newfound defensive solidity while becoming more expansive going forward.
Tijan McKenna Shows Her Versatility
Tijan McKenna originally came to Glory as a highly rated defensive midfielder, but in the latter years of Alex Epakis’ reign was converted to being a full back, and this was her usual position in the first season under Stephen Peters.
This season she was asked to play as a wing-back in the 3-5-2 system employed by Glory at the beginning of the campaign, a role she took on with varying degrees of success. In the game against Wellington in the previous round, Peters reverted to a 4-3-3 and McKenna played as a more traditional full back and she looked far more comfortable in that role.
Due to a quad injury to Nigerian International Zogg, she was employed as an emergency centre back in the game against Adelaide, a position she has only previously played at in the WA NPLW.
The manner in which she adapted to this position belied her inexperience and her partnership with Anderson was a major reason the home side kept a clean sheet.
Her older sister, Leticia, is gaining many plaudits with her eye-catching display at Melbourne City but the hardworking younger sister is showing plenty of talent also.
Rola Badawiya Back To Scoring Ways
The only goal of the game came in the 38th minute and the relief on the goalscorers face was palpable, and her celebration was something to behold!
It was the 3rd goal of the campaign for Badawiya and ended a goal scoring drought of four games. The Californian came to the club with big expectations and her coach, Stephen Peters was delighted for his striker when he spoke after the game;
“I’m super pleased for her to get a goal today because shes’ been under intense scrutiny (because) we’re not scoring goals, so I think this was a massive weight off her shoulders and hopefully that gives her confidence.”
Adelaide’s Goal Scoring Woes
With just three goals to their name all season, it’s not hard to see where the problems lie for the team and explains why they currently sit bottom of the ladder.
The stats for the game show that creating the chances is not a problem as they had 17 shots in total, but the execution is a real issue. Time and again, the ball was worked into good positions but only four of their shots were on target, and Morrisey wasn’t forced into making anything other than routine saves.
Adriana Taranto and Erin Healey had nine shots between them which was more than the Glory managed all game, so it’s clear that the execution is an issue. It also seems as though the players are unwilling to take the responsibility for taking a shot, as there were several occasions when one too many passes were made, and the opportunity was lost.
It’s an issue that requires urgent attention if Adelaide are to keep their finals hopes alive.
Illness and Travel Don’t Mix
Before this game, Adelaide were forced to ask the league for a postponement of their mid-week match against Melbourne City as they simply didn’t have enough fit players to put out a team.
This was the result of a bug going through the squad, and this had a knock-on effect of interfering with preparations for the Perth game.
Throw in the flight from Adelaide to Perth and you have a sub-optimum preparation for a game that both sides were desperate to win. The first half was evenly matched in terms of energy from both sides, but you could see as the second half wore on that the visitors were unable to compete with the same level of intensity and this was particularly evident in the latter stages of the second half.
To his credit, the Adelaide coach (Theo Tsiounis) didn’t want to make this an excuse for the loss when he spoke after the game;
“We don’t want to make excuses, (but) it has been a challenging week but credit to Perth (as they) managed to hold on. Its probably had some impact but not enough to use as an excuse.”
Video highlights here:
