Farina bemoans officiating as Glory get there

It was far from pretty but Perth Glory did just enough to claim three points against Sydney FC yesterday in front of 10,613 at nib Stadium.

Steve McGarry netted the only goal of the game from the penalty spot early on, while Danny Vukovic was deservedly awarded the Man of the Match award for his flawless performance at the other end.

But it wouldn’t be a Hyundai A-League game without some form of controversy and Sydney boss Frank Farina was understandably annoyed at the officiating in the lead up to that winning penalty.

Ryo Nagai was clearly in an offside position when he was found by a Jamie Maclaren pass but the linesman kept his flag down and Sydney keeper Vedran Janjetovic was penalised for cleaning out the Japanese winger.

Indeed, Janjetovic was probably lucky to stay on the park with referee Ben Williams opting to show him just a yellow card.

“I was disappointed with it, I thought the linesman got it [the offside] wrong,” said Farina. “Again a big decision, especially when a team is under pressure and coming into games that early. A foul is a foul but I thought it was offside. Even from live watching it I thought he was offside and then the replay that I saw confirmed it for me.

“It’s not good enough, it’s days like this you wish you were playing Rugby League or Rugby Union where those things won’t happen. But unfortunately in our game it does and it’s not the first time this season in four rounds, not just for us but for other teams and it’s not good enough.”

When asked about his thoughts on using technology to help eliminate the mistakes, Farina was forthright in his opinion.

“I’ve always been advocate of it [video technology],” he said.

“The reality of it is it’s not going to happen and not going to happen for a long time but certainly it’s not going to disrupt the game any more than when a goal is scored.”

His opposite number, Alistair Edwards, took a different stance, stating that he is happy with how things are currently as things even themselves out over the course of the season.

While Glory’s performance was far from fluid, their defence has become resolute with three successive clean sheets, and reinforcements are on the way soon in the form of William Gallas.

The Maclaren/Edwards link isn’t there 

Both Jamie Maclaren and Ryan Edwards are playing in their first A-League campaign and of course it is going to take them time to settle in.

Edwards has been deployed as the furthest forward central midfielder in all four games so far, the man to support Maclaren who himself is trying to get comfortable in a new position.

However, Edwards has failed to impose himself and has often been bypassed completely by his teammates with long balls being pumped forward which are inevitably won comfortably by the opposing centre backs.

Indeed, Edwards passed to ball to Maclaren just five times (three times successfully), one of which was kick off, and that simply isn’t good enough for two players supposed to be working in tandem.

With Shane Smeltz now back in the fold, Glory now have another more out-and-out option up front, and Alistair Edwards afterwards eluded to the possibility of McGarry being used as his link man in future.

“I thought Steve McGarry, when he went to 10, did very well,” said the Glory boss.

“Almost got a goal and worked really hard so we’ve got a lot of variables in our team which is positive.”

Edwards also confirmed that he considered playing Daniel De Silva from the start and the 16 year old in contention for more game time over the coming weeks.

Sydney needs a striker, despite what Farina says 

A lot has been made of Sydney FC’s offseason acquisitions, or lack of, and you can’t help but think that they are lacking a forward in the Tomi Juric/Shane Smeltz mould to lead the line.

With 19 attempts on goal, a figure almost double that of their opponents, Sydney really have found the back of the net on at least one occasion with Ali Abbas and Richard Garcia in particular guilty of bad misses.

When asked about their poor finishing, Farina insisted that there are goals in his team, even though they have failed to score since the opening day win over the Newcastle Jets.

“When we lost Joel Griffiths there was a big blow, we expected to have for not only this season but also next season and he’s a renowned goalscorer,” he said.

“We’ve got players that can score, no doubt about it, and you’re probably going to have nights or days like this where you create and you won’t score.

“It’s important that we’re creating but certainly we’ve the players that can score goals, unfortunately tonight it wasn’t to be.

Things don’t get any easier for Farina and his side with Melbourne Victory in town next weekend for the first ‘Big Blue’ of the season.

Glory, meanwhile, travels to Wellington to take on a Phoenix side who will be without their New Zealand internationals due to the World Cup playoff clash with Mexico.

Perth Glory: 1. Daniel VUKOVIC, 4. Ryan EDWARDS, 5. Steve PANTELIDIS, 7. Jacob BURNS, 8. Ryo NAGAI, 10. Jamie MACLAREN, 14. Steven MCGARRY, 16. Sidnei SCIOLA MORAES, 21. Scott JAMIESON, 23. Michael THWAITE, 24. Matthew DAVIES.

Subs: 3. Brandon O’NEILL, 6. Cameron EDWARDS, 9. Shane SMELTZ, 18. Jack DUNCAN, 20. Daniel DE SILVA.

Sydney FC: 20. Vedran JANJETOVIC, 2. Sebastian RYALL, 3. Marc WARREN, 6. Nikola PETKOVIC, 7. Brett EMERTON, 11. Richard GARCIA, 13. Tiago CALVANO, 16. Joel CHIANESE, 19. Nick CARLE, 22. Ali ABBAS, 28. Matthew THOMPSON.

Subs: 1. Ivan NECEVSKI. 5. Matthew JURMAN, 10. Alessandro DEL PIERO, 21. Yairo YAU, 27. Chris NAUMOFF.