Perth Glory have kept their spot on top of the A-League table, beating Wellington Phoenix 2-1 at nib Stadium. Mile Sterjovski and Robbie Fowler were both on target for the victors but Ben Sigmund's late header sent a scare through the Glory camp.
A-League Round 5Perth Glory: 2 (Mile Sterjovski 6', Robbie Fowler 61') Wellington Phoenix: 1 (Ben Sigmund 72')
Venue: nib Stadium, Perth Crowd: 10,844 Referee: Ben Williams Yellow cards:PG - Mile Sterjovski 25' WP - Daniel 45', Ben Sigmund 78', Troy Hearfield 80'
GOAL The match started perfectly for the home side when Mile Sterjovski netted in just the 6th minute after Robbie Fowler picked out Todd Howarth who was charging down the left flank. The defender had plenty of space and was easily able to tee up Sterjovski who finished coolly past an advancing Mark Paston.
Perth continued their attacking intent and they looked very dangerous, switching play at will and showing their confidence after the early goal.
The Phoenix did manage to claw their way back into proceedings and had some chances throughout the half but they were unable to put it on the scoreboard and went into the break a goal down.
Wellington began the second half the brighter of the two teams but the Glory were not to outdone and managed a second GOAL in the 61st minute when Howarth played a long ball into path of Sterjovski who looped it over to Fowler and the Liverpool legend headed home much to the delight of the Glory fans.
GOAL Just over ten minutes later, the Phoenix hit back when defender Ben Sigmund got on the end of a Paul Ifill corner and headed home to get his side back into the contest just when the Glory were kicking into cruise control.
Perth substitute Anthony Skorich, who replaced Fowler, almost made an immediate impact in the 76th minute when he ran onto a through ball and placed a shot on target but Phoenix keeper Paston got enough of a touch on it and kept the visitors in with a chance.
That chance almost came with eight minutes to go but Glory keeper Tando Velaphi pulled off a miracle save from a close range Chris Greenacre shot to maintain Perth's lead which they kept to stay at the summit of the A-League table.
Starting Line-Ups
PG Tando Velaphi (gk), Jamie Coyne, Jamie Harnwell (Todd 86'), Jacob Burns, Robbie Fowler (Skorich 75'), Scott Neville, Steve McGarry, Adriano Pellegrino (Jelic 88'), Todd Howarth, Naum Sekulovski, Mile Sterjovski
Subs - Alex Vrteski (gk), Andy Todd (86'), Branko Jelic (88'), Anthony Skorich (75')
WP Mark Paston (gk), Tony Lochhead, Tim Brown (Ward 46'), Paul Ifill, Chris Greenacre, Daniel (Bertos 67'), Tory Hearfield, Vince Lia, Ben Sigmund, Andrew Durante, Dylan Macallister (Pavlovic 46')
Subs - Danny Vukovic (gk), Nick Ward (46'), Leo Bertos (67'), Mirjan Pavlovic (46')
