Perth Glory

When the game did open up after the break, it was Wanderers who found a way through, Brandon Borrello and Gabriel Cleur combining to create a chance for Krpic ...

The red-and-blacks were not to be denied 12 minutes from time, however, as Borrello’s cross was deflected by Cleur and the ball looped up nicely for Krpic who nodded in his first goal for the club. To their credit, however, Glory pushed right to the death and would have secured a point had Thomas not managed to get his right glove on to McEneff’s goalbound stoppage-time strike. “It was nice to get another game and it showed that we were definitely rusty in the combinations going forward and missed some cues and moments to get in behind. Borrello then went close for Wanderers, firing in a swerving shot which Reddy parried low to his left and moments later the Glory ‘keeper was called into action again, this time to claim a strike from Milos Ninkovic. “We looked a little bit leggy late, but the attitude and mentality was really, really positive and we just didn’t have enough [players] perform at their peak today. “We didn’t take those opportunities in the front third or execute very well, but the big positive was that we competed really well and were solid defensively. After a cagey, rather fractious opening 45 minutes, the start of the second half saw Mark Rudan’s men create two quickfire chances which Kusini Yengi and Krpic were unable to convert. The hosts were denied a second goal ten minutes later as Liam Reddy produced a stunning, one-handed block to stop Krpic’s penalty and buoyed by that, Glory very nearly claimed a share of the spoils when Aaron McEneff’s fierce strike was kept out of the net by a fingertip save from Lawrence Thomas. When the game did open up after the break, it was Wanderers who found a way through, Brandon Borrello and Gabriel Cleur combining to create a chance for Krpic who nodded home. “I thought we lacked a bit of creativity in the front third,” he said. A much-changed Glory side featuring seven new faces in the starting eleven and another five on the bench went toe-to-toe with the hosts throughout an evenly-contested first half which was largely devoid of clear-cut chances. A second-half effort from Sulejman Krpic proved the difference between the two sides as Glory were edged out 1-0 by Western Sydney Wanderers in a hard-fought season-opener at CommBank Stadium on Sunday.