Penalties, a comeback & case of the missing coach

Right when you thought mid-week football wasn’t exciting enough, the top of the table match between Sydney FC and Perth Glory proved to be well worth the wait.

Two penalties, a disappearing Perth Glory coach Kenny Lowe and a comeback story to rival Krusty the Clown meant A-League fans were left satisfied from a bout of Thursday night football.

The first half began with an explosive Perth Glory who by far had the most chances to score. A through-ball to Daniel De Silva perfectly found Andy Keogh and would have been a goal if he wasn’t called offside.

Alex Brosque on a similar note sent a fantastic cross that was just a touch too high to be headed into the goal.

De Silva, Keogh and Scott Jamieson all had great opportunities within the first 15 minutes to score the opening goal but they were simply unable to convert them either sending the ball high or wide.

Perth Glory chose to repetitively attack down the right hand side of the field and it proved to be relatively successful considering the chances they created.

Sky Blue Bernie Ibini seemed to provide a refreshing outlet for Sydney’s attack often trying to curve the ball into the middle so that Milos Dimitrijevic could get his feet onto the ball.

Sydney in the second half seemed to have found the spark that they were very much missing in the first half.

Milos with an opportunity in the 55^th minute sent the ball straight into Dino Djublic and a questionable hand-ball was called and a penalty was given.

Shane Smeltz then stepped up to the plate to take the penalty and sent the ball right into the net with the first goal of the match.

Sydney almost continued their lead after Ibini headed off on a great sprint passing the ball directly to Terry Antonis who then chipped the ball up into the top of the goal which forced Vukovic to make a captivating save. 

Ibini was certainly having a field day as he had vast amounts of room to move and sprint down the field simply outrunning all of Perth Glory's defence.

Following the penalty chaos Perth coach Kenny Lowe confronted the referees for the decision that was made. He temporarily left the field and fled into the tunnel, only to return 5 minutes later.

Where did Kenny Lowe go? No one knows.

Yet once he returned to his bunnings chair, things began to fall into place for Perth Glory.

Perth’s Marinkovic assisted with the equaliser by sending one of his signature free kicks directly to Djulbic who headed the ball right into the net, a set-piece that went perfectly right for the Glory this evening.

Right when the equaliser wasn’t enough, a second penalty was awarded.

Andy Keogh took the penalty for the Glory and sent an impressive ball that forced itself into the back of the net.

The Glory were in the lead with only a few minutes remaining and it almost ended with Ibini embarking on a spectacular run shooting a ball that would have probably gone in if it dropped a bit in the end.

The game concluded with Perth Glory maintaining their first position in the ladder with Sydney FC losing the match in a matter 5 minutes conceding two goals.

Despite the victory by Perth Glory questions must be asked about the penalties awarded. 

But the most important question of all will likely go unanswered; where did Kenny Lowe go?

Sydney FC: Alex BROSQUE (C), Predrag BOJIC, Matthew JURMAN (Nick CARLE 88'), Nikola PETKOVIC, Milos DIMITRIJEVIC, Shane SMELTZ, Bernie IBINI-ISEI, Alexander GERSBACH, Terry ANTONIS, Rhyan GRANT (Christopher NAUMOFF 74') and Vedran JANJETOVIC (GK).

Unused substitutes:  Peter TRIANTIS, Aaron CALVER and Anthony BOUZANIS.

Perth Glory: Michael THWAITE (C), Rostyn GRIFFITHS, Dino DJULBIC, Andrew KEOGH (Jamie MACLAREN 92'), Neojsa MARINKOVIC, Richard GARCIA (Ruben ZADKOVICH 74'), Mitchell NICHOLS, Joshua RISDON, Daniel DE SILVA (Chris HAROLD 67') , Scott JAMIESON and Daniel VUKOVIC (GK).
Unused substitutes: Diogo Aleves FERRERIA and  Mitchell NICHOLS.