Report by Chris Andrawes

Coach Gerry McEwan believes Subiaco are starting to earn respect in the NPL WA after a 4-1 win over Perth Glory extended his side’s unbeaten run to three matches.

After failing to win any of their first 12 games, Subiaco have now won two and drawn one of their past three games, breathing new life into their campaign.

Pictured: Joe Knowles threatens the Subiaco defence. Photo: Chris Andrawes

“Psychologically the boys were doing it tough,” McEwan said after the win at Intiga Stadium. “In some games, it was the odd goal in injury time and some controversial decisions went against us but the balance of play changes a little bit when you’ve got a bit more respect.

“You’ve got to earn that respect and we’ve worked hard towards that.”

Subiaco took the lead after just two minutes when George Tchami headed home from a corner.

There was a to be a familiar theme running through the match and Perth Glory coach John Gibson rued the way his side conceded all four goals.

“Three of the four goals were set pieces and we’ve spoken about that,” he said. “We’ve got to be accountable and better at dealing with those things but overall we can be a lot better.”

Glory were left further frustrated as they conceded from the penalty spot moments before half time to mirror their opening to the half.

Hannifi Ghazali had cut down Josh Booysen as he lined up a shot in the box and Jordan Rhodes stepped up to dispatch the penalty.

“We talk about the last five and the first five of every half being when we need to be switched on and concentrate and be better, but we’re actually not and we need to be better than that,” Gibson said.

Glory had fought back well after the initial goal went in, with striker Joe Knowles looking particularly dangerous up front and scoring a brilliant goal from the edge of the box. He also caught McEwan’s eye.

“Glory have a lot of talented young boys there, if you let them play then they cause you problems, so I’m pleased that we made it difficult for them and our game plan worked pretty well” he said.

“They scored a quality goal, the boy Knowles is a very good player, he’s always a threat.”

Gibson was also pleased with his young striker.

“Knowles is exciting, and there’s a whole lot of them – (Blamo) Qua Qua, (Jacob) Collard, (Slobodan) Vulin and a host of others,” he said. “But Knowles, he takes his chances, he’s a good goalscorer, so half a chance and he’s fantastic.”

Subiaco sealed the game in the second half through Rory Feely, who fired home from Booysen’s cut back to make it 4-1 and put the game well beyond Glory’s reach.

Booysen played well throughout, scoring Subiaco’s second goal and working hard throughout the full 90 minutes despite playing the last 10 minutes with a slight knock.

Overall McEwan was pleased with his side’s efforts in a scrappy game, which Subiaco dominated.

“We know that they’re ahead of us on the table and we felt injustice the last time we played them,” he said. “We got a goal controversially cut off at the end. We want to finish as high up the table as we can but we’ve enjoyed the contest of being in this league and we’ll continue to do that.”

Perth Glory 1 (Knowles 12’)
Subiaco 4 (Tchami 2’, Booysen 33’, Rhodes 45’ PEN, Feely 64’)
Saturday 22nd June 2014

Intiga Stadium
Kick-off: 3:00pm
Referee: Josh Manella
Assistant referees: Stuart Blacker, Oliver Allen
Attendance: 50 Approx.

Perth Glory: 1. Fraser GREENWOOD, 2. Josh TUCKER, 3. Anthony BAFOTUSHA (14. Scott ROBERTSON 62’), 4. Rocco PIZZATA (12. Matt MTOUMENOPOULOS 80’), 5. Hannifi GHAZALI, 6. Blamo QUA QUA, 7. Gian ALBANO, 8. Jacob COLLARD, 9. Joe KNOWLES, 10. Slob VULIN, 11. Dylan WHITE (13. Jack OLDHAM 68’)
Substitutes not used: Calvin WHITNEY, 20. Luke RADANOVICH
Yellow cards: Ghazali 46’, Collard 68’, Vulin 84’
Red cards: nil

Subiaco: 1. Jack HOWARD, 2. Nathan DIAZ (7. Ger FITZGERALD 63’), 3. Rowdy YATES, 4. Alex RANDELL, 5. Michael JOHNSON (15. Jack RYCROFT 45’), 6. Brad McDONALD, 8. Jordan RHODES (11. Matt AKENHURST 78’), 10. Guy McDONALD, 14. Josh BOOYSEN, 16. George TCHAMI, 17. Rory FEELY
Substitutes not used: 21. Henry DAVIES, 9. Ross JARMAN
Yellow cards: Diaz 18’
Red cards: nil