Sat 2nd Dec 2006

Perth Glory has been denied a valuable point in their match against the Roar at Suncorp Stadium after a long range shot from Queensland midfielder Matt McKay in the 81st minute sealed victory for the home side.

Glory goal keeper Tommi Tomich again put in an inspirational performance for Perth to keep the Roar to a whisper for the majority of the game. The keeper only beaten by McKay’s left foot thunderbolt in the closing stages of the game but it was his earlier saves that ensured Perth were in the match to that point.

Starting only his fourth Hyundai A-League game, Tomich showed plenty of poise throughout the match and made some fantastic saves including stopping McKay in the 67th minute when the young Queenslander was one on one inside the 18 yard box. The Perth custodian put his big frame between McKay and the goal mouth much to the relief of the Glory defence.

With Queensland peppering the goals 21 times throughout the match Tomich had his work cut out and proved he was on song early in the opening half with a fantastic diving save to parry the ball away. He again denied the Roar just after the restart as Spase Dilevski tried his luck from long range.

Glory striker Stuart Young surrounded by Roar defendersAt the other end Queensland keeper Liam Reddy also had his hands full with several good chances falling Perth’s way. A defensive lapse by the home side in added time of the first half almost cost them dearly as Stuart Young fired a shot on target but the keeper palmed it away to leave the scores deadlocked at the interval.

Young also had the best opportunity of the second half for Perth when played through by a brilliant pass from Simon Colosimo that left him one on one with Reddy. The Queensland keeper charged out and did enough to close the gap and stop Young getting clean purchase on the ball.

Glory midfielder Leo Bertos was closely marked and crudely taken to ground on several occasions as Queensland focused their attention on the Perth playmaker. Bobby Despotovski too came in for some close attention as did Jamie Harnwell who once again started in attack but was unable to find the back of the next for a third straight game.

Coach Ron Smith used three substitutes in the second half as he looked to gain the upper hand and the arrival of the Glory’s smoking gun Luka Glavas in the 76th minute gave the attack some added zip. Hi input became even more valuable after Perth went behind with just nine minutes remaining.

With the Roar dropping back in big numbers the Glory were left to take their shots from outside the penalty area and Adrian Webster almost brought the game back to level terms as he forced a save from a 20 yard shot.

Perth’s last chance came three minutes from regular time as Glavas had his shot deflected but it fortuitously fell to Young who smashed his shot into the ground in an attempt to get it over Reddy but the keeper was up to the task and pushed it over the crossbar to maintain his side’s advantage.

Perth must now regroup and prepare for another east coast challenge with a huge road double against Central Coast and Sydney awaiting them in the coming week.

Queensland Roar 1 (McKay 81’)
Perth Glory 0
Crowd: 11,237