On a typically warm and windy Perth summer afternoon, Perth Glory recorded a much-needed win at Macedonia Park in a bottom-of-the-table clash against Wellington Phoenix, breathing life into what has so far been a disappointing campaign.
Two goals inside the opening quarter of an hour were enough to earn three points for the hosts. Cyera Hintzen (6th minute) and Susan Phonsongkham (14th minute penalty) put their names on the scoresheet.
However, the biggest incident of the game was the red cards handed out by referee Casey Reibelt when Emma Rolston and Ella Mastrantonio clashed in the 35th minute. Rolston will serve a two-match ban and Mastrantonio will miss three games (subject to any appeals).
The win moves Glory up the ladder to eighth spot, five points from the top four, whilst Phoenix remain anchored to the bottom with just a solitary point.
Double red card
With Glory leading 2-0 and looking comfortable the game suddenly erupted on 35 minutes. Wellington Phoenix’s Emma Rolston was lying on the ground with the ball trapped between her legs when Glory’s Ella Mastrantonio tried to play the ball by kicking at it. Understandably Rolston didn’t take too kindly to this, getting up and pushing Mastrantonio away. Mastrantonio then put her arm around Rolston’s neck, leading Rolston to push Mastrantonio away a second time. At this point Casey Reibelt stepped in and brandished two red cards to make the game 10 vs 10.
Neither player can have any cause for complaint, and the suspensions they have received (prior to any appeals) mean that Rolston will miss games against Canberra and Brisbane Roar. Mastrantonio will miss games against Western United, Newcastle Jets and Brisbane Roar, and may not be back until March when Glory are due to play Western Sydney.
Click here for a video of the incident.
Glory’s disciplinary woes
That Mastrantonio red card is Glory’s second of the season (Sarah Cain was sent off for a second yellow in the game against Melbourne Victory). Perth also picked up two yellow cards in Sunday’s game (Liz Anton and Abbey Green) and now have 12 yellows for the season, behind the 15 of Newcastle Jets and Western United.
Coach Alex Epakis defended the numbers in his post-match interview, stating that he wanted his side to be aggressive and play hard, but there is risk in this approach if players earn suspensions due to multiple bookings.
Whilst cards can be excused for overzealous tackling, there have been a number of yellows handed out for shirt pulling, back chatting and time wasting – these are more difficult to justify. Mastrantonio has already earned two yellows this season and it might be time for Epakis to have a quiet chat with his experienced midfielder.
The Fremantle doctor
The infamous sea breeze has often been a deciding factor in games at Macedonia Park this season, as the team playing with the doctor at their backs usually dominates the game.
On Sunday though, neither team scored whilst playing with the breeze, making this the first game of the season when no goals have been scored by the team with the wind blowing in their favour.
Epakis has mentioned in the past that there is a need to play two different styles of football according to the wind, and there was evidence of this on Sunday when Perth went for a more direct game in the second half. The stats showed the home team had 335 passes (compared to 446 for Phoenix) and that Phoenix enjoyed 57% possession, whilst Glory had 43%, but Glory had 23 shots as opposed to 11 for the visitors.
Long distance travel
This game represents the biggest challenge that any away side will face this season, as the total travel time of 16 hours is the longest that any women’s player in the world will face when playing a domestic league fixture.
Phoenix coach Natalie Lawrence acknowledged there were issues with the travel in her post-match comments and mentioned there were some players suffering from jet lag. Wellington arrived in Perth on Friday and departed on Monday – this is far from the normal experience for players and staff.
Lawrence refused to accept that travel had an impact on the result and stated that this was just something the team had to manage as best they can.
Clean sheet for Glory
With two of the worst defences in the league playing against each other it was difficult to see this game ending in a 0-0 draw, so it was comforting for Glory coach Alex Epakis to come away with his side’s first clean sheet of 2022-23.
150 game veteran Kim Carroll was made captain for the day in recognition of her achievement and she once again had an excellent game marshalling her teammates against the Phoenix attack.
Alongside her at centre back was Football Fern Liz Anton, who played in a manner that will make it difficult for Ferns coach Jitka Klimková to not include her in the starting XI for the upcoming matches against the USA, which kick off on Wednesday 18th.
Anton was back to her best with some impressive defending, showing speed and reading the game well. The partnership she has with Carroll meant that the side with the least number of goals in the league was never going to have an easy task against the Glory defence.
