01-07-2007, 06:54 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2007 My Local Time: 03:05 PM Location: Australia
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Victory earn fighting draw
Sunday, 7 January, 2007 - 10:16PM
Justin Chadwick, Sportal
Leo Bertos
Leo Bertos
A brace from Kristian Sarkies has earned an under-strength Melbourne outfit a hard-fought 2-2 draw against Perth Glory at Members Equity Stadium on Sunday.
The Glory appeared on course for victory when Jamie Harnwell's sixth goal of the season and an own goal by Victory defender Mark Byrnes handed Perth a 2-0 lead in the opening half.
But two second-half strikes by Sarkies saw Melbourne catapult its way back into the contest, despite being reduced to 10 men in the 73rd minute when Byrnes received his second yellow card of the match.
The Victory entered the match without their three leading goal-scorers - Archie Thompson (suspended), Daniel Allsopp (rested) and Kevin Muscat (rested) - and was also without the suspended Adrian Leijer and rested Fred, and the lack of experience was telling early on.
Perth started the better of the two sides and almost made an early breakthrough when Harnwell, who started up front, latched on to an outswinging Mislav Saric cross, but Harnwell's header drifted agonisingly wide of Melbourne keeper Eugene Galekovic's left post.
Galekovic came to his team's rescue in the 14th minute during a frenetic goal-mouth scramble in the Victory's box. The Melbourne custodian produced two great saves, both from the boot of Leo Bertos, to deny Perth an early lead.
But Perth keeper Tommi Tomich was not to be outdone, pulling off a brilliant full-stretch save to keep out a thundering Sarkies long-range effort.
Harnwell missed a golden opportunity in the 22nd minute when he headed Bertos' corner well over the crossbar, but the Glory captain made no mistake seven minutes later, rising high above Byrnes to head home a fantastic ball from Mark Lee.
Byrnes' day got a whole lot worse shortly before the break when an attempted clearance in the 43rd minute skewed off the side of his boot and rocketed into the back of his own net, with Galekovic only able to watch on in despair.
The Glory continued to dominate possession after the break but it was the Victory who were celebrating in the 59th minute when Sarkies completed the easiest of tap-ins after Grant Brebner's long range shot hit the post and rebounded kindly into the midfielder's path.
Perth debutant teenager Nikita Rukavytsya had two chances from outside the box to re-establish the two-goal buffer, but both attempts found their way safely into the arms of Galekovic.
Byrnes' disastrous afternoon was compounded when he received his second yellow card of the match for a crude tackle on Harnwell, leaving Melbourne to fight it out with 10 men for the last 17 minutes of the match.
Despite the numerical disadvantage, the Victory hit the lead in the 76th minute when Sarkies slammed home his second goal of the match from a free kick 25 yards out, leaving Tomich stranded on his line.
Perth pushed hard for the winner during the remainder of the match, with chances falling for David Tarka, Harnwell, Josip Magdic and Luka Glavas, but it was to no avail as the Victory held on for the point, ending the Glory's remote chances of a finals appearance.
Perth 2 (Harnwell 29, Byrnes (og) 43)
Melbourne 2 (Sarkies 59, 76)
Crowd: 6,462 @ Members Equity Stadium
| Credit - A-League.com.au |
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