A-League Men: Perth Glory fall 3-1 to Western United as bizarre own goal helps extend winless run to 10 games

When it rains for Perth Glory, it pours, after an own-goal equal-parts bizarre and calamitous turned the game and contributed towards a 3-1 loss to Western United at Ironbark Fields. After Jaylan Pearman had expertly cancelled out Rhys Bozanovski’s early opener mid-way through the second half, Perth looked on their way for a draw against the second-placed United. But not for the first time this season, Glory’s defensive woes returned to haunt them when substitute Taras Gomulka inadvertently deflected the ball towards his own goal. Somehow, the bouncing ball took a slight touch off Yuto Misao and evaded goalkeeper Oli Sail under duress from Hiroshi Ibusuki. With Perth pushing players forward late, they were caught on the hop, and Ramy Najjarine made the points safe late. While a point would have moved Perth ahead of fellow cellar-dwellers Brisbane Roar, the loss ensures they stay rooted to the foot of the ladder with three games to play. And although Perth were far from outplayed against United, it will not alleviate the pressure on coach David Zdrilic as their winless run reached double digits. It took just 130 seconds for Perth to feel as if the world was coming down on their head after Matthew Grimaldi’s clever turn ended in Noah Botic’s shot being scrambled behind, and the hosts took the lead from the resultant corner. Glory’s inability to clear the set-piece meant the ball bounced to Bozanovski at the back post, and although Sail did well to keep out the initial effort, the rebound was duly smashed home. Perth thought they had found a quick equaliser when Will Freney guided a header into the net, but the linesman’s flag intervened for offside. Despite the early deficit, Glory managed to prevent themselves from appearing all at see and while United sat back, let their opponents have the ball and dare the visitors to play through them at times, Perth did have some success in creating opportunities. Freney was on the end of two more chances – the second of which ended in Adam Taggart’s cut-back bouncing off his knee and over – while Nicholas Pennington headed over from a corner. Sail turned from villain to hero in the space of a few seconds up the other end when his botched clearance was almost turned into a goal, but he stood tall to deny Grimaldi from doubling the lead. United had some success through Riku Danzaki down the left corridor, and his low cross was narrowly turned behind Yuto Misao with Grimaldi hovering. Ibusuki then wasted a golden chance just before half time when he found himself one-on-one, but he lazily dinked the ball into Sail’s arms. Perth’s best move of the game almost ended in a goal two minutes after the restart when some nice interplay between Taggart, Pearman and Nikola Mileusnic ended in Trent Ostler stinging ‘keeper Matt Sutton’s palms. But they did find an equaliser in the 55th minute when Pearman shimmied inside Dylan Leonard, opened up his body and curled the ball beyond Sutton. However, United re-took the lead when the Glory made a mess of trying to clear their lines in the box, as Gomulka and Misao’s efforts to clear resulted in their team falling behind. With Perth stretched and chasing the game once again, they left gaps in defence, and United gleefully exploited the space in behind on the counter, eventually adding a third through Najjarine with five minutes to go.