Report by Navrin Secker

High-flying Perth Glory had their trademark staying power to thank as they recovered to beat Balcatta 3-2 at Grindleford Reserve on Saturday afternoon.

Glory, who took the lead inside the first minute through a Henry Hore penalty, found themselves behind at half-time thanks to goals from Alex Wild and Calum O’Connell.

But once more Glory’s youngsters came good and Chor Dali and Yacoub Mustafa secured the three points in a high-scoring encounter.

Perth Glory coach John Gibson, whose side are third after 15 rounds of the NPL WA season, admitted: “We made life pretty difficult for ourselves.

“It was a happy performance in the end.”

Despite making six changes to the side that won at Perth SC last week, the visitors came out firing early in the match.

And there was drama within a minute of kick-off as referee Michal Jasinski awarded Glory a penalty after deciding Balcatta keeper Kyle McDonald had made contact with Michael Domfeh. Hore slotted the ball into the bottom left-hand corner and Glory looked on their way.

But Balcatta shrugged off the early setback and pushed for an equaliser which came on 13 minutes when new signing Wild smashed his shot into the roof of the net from close range. Captain O’Connell set up the move after regaining possession in midfield and finding the striker with a lobbed ball over the defence.

The home side continued to attack and O’Connell struck to put Balcatta ahead going into half-time.

Glory came out firing after the break and some brilliant play by Hore forced a good save from McDonald.

The visitors were not to be denied and Dali levelled with a powerful shot that McDonald couldn’t keep out despite getting a glove to it.

Balcatta were shocked just three minutes later when Perth scored again, this time it was Mustafa who volleyed home to give the visitors a lead they didn’t look like surrendering.

Balcatta coach Goran Stajic said: “I’m just disappointed for the boys, they played a really good game against the Glory that’s for sure.”

Balcatta: 2 (Wild 13min, O’Connell 31)
Perth Glory: 3 (Hore pen 1, Dali 65, Mustafa 68)
Saturday, June 2
Grindleford Reserve
Kick-off: 3pm
Referee: Michal Jasinski
Assistant referees: Darren Quinlan, Troy Malatesta

Balcatta: 1. Kyle MCDONALD, 2. Joseph MARINO, 3. Hayden STEVENS, 4. Calum O’CONNELL, 5. Tom PELLIZZARI, 7. Asher NELSON (15. Adriano JELENOVIC 57mins), 8. Carmelo GIAFFRE, 9. Alex WILD, 10. Jonathan CORNESS, 18. Robert DEL BORRELLO (20. Shubham MAKELA 63mins), 23. Lawrence SHURAMA (12. Anton DE FRANCESCH 72mins)
Unused substitutes: 21. AMOS, 25. Damien Stanoevski
Yellow cards: Stevens 45+2, Del Borello 62, O’Connell 67
Red cards: Nil

Perth Glory: 1. Jackson LEE, 2. Luca BODNAR, 3. Walter SCOTT, 4. Sam RIAK (15. Daniel WALSH 42mins), 5. Ollie ANNIS, 6. Callum TIMMINS, 7. Chok DAU, 8. Henry HORE, 9. Michael DOMFEH (13. Bayley BROWN-MONTGOMERY 61mins), 10. Michael MCDOUGALL (12. Jack LEECH 81mins), 11. Yacoub MUSTAFA
Unused substitutes: 14. Gomo DUKULY, 20. Nicholas SPECA
Yellow cards: Hore 28, Riak 37, Brown-Montgomery 66
Red cards: Nil