W-LEAGUE: Melbourne through to GF on penalties

For 120 minutes Lisa De Vanna proved her resilience in the face of adversity. After every frustrating miss in scorching temperatures she came back quicker, stronger and hungrier. 

NIB Stadium still not complete, much like Perth Glory themselves

But even De Vanna had reached boiling point by the end of the grueling two hour encounter when referee Katie Patterson ruled that Kaitlyn Savage had left her line and ordered Jessica McDonald to retake her missed decisive penalty kick.

The veteran Matlida threw her wattle bottle and stormed off the pitch. Behind her, McDonald sent her second chance spot kick past Savage and Melbourne Victory into the 2012/13 Westfield W-League Grand Final.

Victory had to dig deep in Perth to win 4-3 on penalties after their hard earned lead was only held for five minutes. Collette McCallum cancelled out Laura Spiranovic’s 52^nd minute strike, but her stunning free kick was also shrouded in controversy, as replays confirmed the decision to award the foul was poor at best.

Melbourne were fortunate to not concede in the first 20 minutes. The team with the best defence in the league looked to be stumbling at the second last hurdle. Their back three was offering far too much space to De Vanna and Kathryn Gill, the strike pair responsible for Perth being the most goal-hungry team this season.

But while Melbourne only threatened to stumble, Perth fell flat on their face. De Vanna missed an open goal and a one on one within the first 15 minutes. The next 10 minutes saw Gill nervously delay an attempt on goal, allowing Maika Ruyter-Hooley to make a last gasp tackle, and De Vanna shooting wide after a brilliant solo run.

Melbourne knew they would not survive much more pressure and sorted their defensive issues. Petra Larsson played a deeper role to help plug the space that the Glory midfielders were finding with inch perfect through balls. It also limited the space Perth had to use on the counter. With Rebekah Stott being expected to play more of a fullback than center back role, there was often room for Perth to attack down the right wing before Larsson dropped back.

It turned the tide of the game and at half time Melbourne had 10 attempts on goal to Perth’s four. Yet they too failed to break the deadlock until the 52^nd minute.

Stephanie Catley caused continuous problems down the left during the first hour and it payed off when she provided the cross for Spiranovic’s far post finish. But as the heat began to take its toll, she, and many other players on the pitch, began to have less of an influence on proceedings.

After an hour, only De Vanna really looked threatening. But it was clear Ruyter-Hooley was winning the intense battle between the two, and the end-to-end match rolled into extra time and eventually penalties. Undoubtedly the poor finishing did not do justice to the standard of the rest of the match.

Though the standard of finishing looked better from the penalty spot. McCallum stepped up first; goal. Danielle Johnson; goal. Gill; goal. 2-1 Perth. Then the nerves hit.

Savage saved and Davey followed suit. Larsson scored for Melbourne to level things up at 2-2, and Davey followed it up with another save. Koca had just put Melbourne in front 3-2 when De Vanna stepped up.

It had seemed inevitable that De Vanna would find the back of the net throughout the 120 minutes of football played at NIB Stadium. And finally, she did. But only moments later she was storming off the pitch in fury as Perth Glory fell agonizingly short of a first Grand Final appearance.

PERTH GLORY - 1 (McCallum 57') 3-4p MELBOURNE VICTORY - 1 (Spiranovic 52')