Sydney FC have brought Perth’s three game winning run to an end and returned to the top of the Isuzu UTE A-League table with a professional 1-0 win at HBF Park.
Abel Walatee’s fifth minute strike was enough to separate the two sides, with Piero Quispe and Al-Hassan Toure’s interplay creating enough space for Walatee to open the scoring on his Sydney FC starting debut.
It was a frustrating evening for Glory, who knocked on the door but couldn’t find their way in past a diligent Sydney defence led by Marcel Tisserand.
Those frustrations were compounded by an injury to Adam Taggart, who limped off after 39 minutes with what appeared to be a groin concern.
Sky Blue alumni Jaiden Kucharski had two of the Glory’s better chances, rattling the crossbar in the eighth minute from inside the area and flashing a 35 yard effort a touch wide just after half time.
Talismanic centre back Brian Kaltak had the clearest chance to bring Perth level inside the first half hour however, rustling the side netting when he’d managed to find space for a free header in a second phase play post-corner.
Tom Lawrence was typically lively and Nicholas Pennington will feel he could have done better with a volleyed effort in the last 10 minutes, but Sydney FC’s extra level of class and experience made the difference in the end.
ALEX TOBIN MEDAL VOTES:
3 Abel Walatee
2 Al-Hassan Toure
1 Rhyan Grant
