Glory Terra-rised by Heart Wonder Goal

A stunning Alex Terra overhead kick earned Melbourne Heart a 1-1 draw at nib Stadium against a luckless Perth Glory who can feel aggrieved to not have taken more from the game.

Having gone a goal up through winger Todd Howarth, the hosts looked to have added a second when Jamie Harnwell's back heel clearly crossed the line in the second half but the officials waved play on as Wayne Shroj hacked the ball clear.

“I can’t blame the referee,” said Glory interim head coach Ian Ferguson.

“The linesman was in a better position but we have to move on. We’ve all now seen it and the ball was over the line."

Harnwell and Tommy Amphlett came into the Glory side at the expense of Jamie Coyne and Jacob Burns, and it was the big centre half who had the first chance of the game after 13 minutes. Mile Sterjovski swung over a corner and Harnwell rose highest but his header went over the bar.

Melbourne went straight up the other end and created an opportunity of their own but Tando Velaphi did well to palm Nick Kalmar's chip over for a corner. Glory continued to press with Robbie Fowler coming close from a free kick and a header.

The deadlock was broken just after the half hour mark when Todd Howarth latched on to Amphlett's chest down to poke the ball past goalkeeper Clint Bolton, much to the delight of the majority of the 7,962 crowd.

A second almost arrived soon after when Josh Mitchell met another dangerous Sterjovski corner but Bolton got down superbly to save.

The game's moment of controversy arrived in the 63rd minute when Mitchell nodded the ball down to Harnwell whose backheel went over the line but the linesman amazingly failed to spot it despite having a clear view and referee Gerard Parsons allowed play to continue despite massive protests.

A visibly rattled Glory had salt rubbed into the wounds when the visitors mustered an equaliser in spectacular fashion. Dean Heffernan swung over a corner from the left and when the ball was knocked down by Gerald Sibon, Alex Terra took one touch with his back to goal before unleashing a superb overhead kick that flew into the top corner past Velaphi. There have been some stunning goals in the Hyundai A-League this season but few will come close to rivalling that.

Both sides could have taken all three points late on with John Aloisi going close for Melbourne and Glory skipper Scott Neville shooting wide after a mesmerising run in injury time.

Heart striker Aloisi was pleased with the point and says the result will give his side a confidence boost.

"It's good for our confidence because we came from behind and didn't play well in the first half. In the second half we played some good stuff, created some chances and the boys that came on were brilliant," he said.

"We really took the game to them and we will come away with confidence and we've gone four games unbeaten now. Let's hope that we can go back home to play the two games in Melbourne, and try to win the first one against Gold Coast because that's a massive game and like a final for us."

Perth Glory: T Velaphi, S Neville, J Mitchell, J Harnwell, A Todd, T Amphlett, A Pellegrino, S McGarry, T Howarth, R Fowler, M Sterjovski.

Subs: A Pearson, A Taggart, H Fondyke, A Skorich.

Melbourne Heart: C Bolton, M Marrone, M Beauchamp, M Thompson, R Worm, W Shroj, J Aloisi, N Kalmar, J Skoko, A Zahra, A Behich.

Subs: P Zois, G Sibon, A Terra, D Heffernan.