A-League Men: Perth Glory lose again as they fall to 2-1 home defeat at hands of Melbourne City

Perth Glory have slipped to their fifth loss in seven games to start their A-League Men’s campaign as Socceroo Mathew Leckie’s second-half winner gave Melbourne City a 2-1 win. In a frantic first-half, the VAR overturned a Melbourne red card and awarded Perth a penalty in the space of five minutes - only for Salim Khelifi to hit the post. Taolgay Arslan converted a spot-kick of his own to give City the lead before Adam Taggart capitalised on a mistake to net his fourth goal in six games. But Leckie struck after half-time to doom Perth to their first home loss of the season, and leave just one spot and one point off the foot of the table. The first-half was defined by two penalties – one missed, one scored – and a late mistake the Glory punished to give themselves a lifeline. Melbourne City enjoyed possessional and territorial dominance early as their midfield three, led by Hamza Sakhi and Arslan, dictated tempo as their teammates piled forward. Tthe game kicked into gear in the space of six frenzied minutes, starting in the 14th minute when Salim Khelifi pounced on a mistake and Callum Talbot dragged him down as he stormed towards goal. Referee Daniel Cook brandished a red card much to City’s chagrin, but under advice from the VAR, he downgraded the offence to just a yellow. From the resultant free-kick, Mark Beevers directed the ball across goal and the ball hit Leckie’s arm from point-blank range and while the referee initially waved away appeals, he once again changed his mind after consulting with the VAR. Khelifi strode up to take the spot-kick, but while his shot beat Jamie Young, it clattered off the post and away from danger. The visitors had 57 per cent of the ball in the first-half, and they slowly began to turn their possesion into goalscoring opportunities, as Jamie Maclaren headed Leckie’s chip wide, Sakhi hit the post from distance and Marin Jakolic’s shot was deflected wide all in the space of seven minutes. Once again, the VAR was called into action in the 36th minute when Johnny Koutroumbis grabbed Arslan’s arm and while the German made the most of the contact, there was enough contact for Cook to award the penalty, which the City playmaker duly dispatched. Perth began to liven up as the half came to a close as Taggart outmuscled Curtis Good and teed up Khelifi at the back-post, but the Tunisian’s acrobatic volley was blocked by Talbot. As the opening 45 finally reached injury time, Taggart took advantage of clumsy back-pass by Alessandro Lopane to coolly round Young and level the scores at the break. Compared to the boom crash opera of the first 45, the second-half was much more sedate, with both sides trading tame efforts for the most part; Sakhi’s 60th minute dipping strike from range aside, neither side were unable to really work the opposition ‘keeper. But two Socceroos swung the game six minutes later when Leckie out-jumped the lanky Beevers to nod home Aziz Behich’s cross and while the defender complained Leckie had two hands in his back, his run at the ball had gone unchecked. As the game entered the final quarter of an hour, Perth raised the energy and Taggart twice threatened to raise the roof as well, but Young was able to deny him on each occasion. Maclaren missed a golden chance to put the game away late, while substitute Mustafa Amini could not direct Perth’s best chance in the final knockings goalwards. The Glory will head to Newcastle next week as they seek their first away win since October 2022.