The A-League premiership race is still on with Melbourne Victory scoring a goal in each half to beat league leaders Perth Glory 2-0 at HBF Park.
Glory had the chance to move nine points clear of the second placed Sydney FC with a win on Saturday in their first home match in six weeks with four rounds remaining.
Firing on all cylinders: Melbourne's Keisuke Honda battles for possession with Neil Kilkenny of Perth.Credit:AAP
Instead, Melbourne moved to within a point of the Sky Blues ahead of next Saturday's clash at the SCG with their arch-rivals.
It was just Perth's second loss of the season in front an A-League record crowd for the venue of 17,856.
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Perth might have taken 19 shots to 10, but only got six on target with Melbourne scoring the only two goals.
The first came courtesy of a wonderful free-kick from Ola Toivonen in the 25th minute.
The second came when Keisuke Honda converted a penalty given for handball against Scott Neville courtesy of the VAR in the 67th.
Glory might have created plenty of opportunities in the opening half, the best thanks to Chris Ikonomidis and Joel Chianese, but only one shot was on target with Victory up 1-0 at halftime.
That was on the back of the brilliant free-kick from Toivonen. The Swede curled it up and over the wall giving Liam Reddy no chance to save it from sailing into the left corner.
That remained the only goal of an eventful first half before Chianese continued to create chance after chance for Perth, but failed to convert them.
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Australian Breaking News Headlines
The A-League premiership race is still on with Melbourne Victory scoring a goal in each half to beat league leaders Perth Glory 2-0 at HBF Park.
Glory had the chance to move nine points clear of the second placed Sydney FC with a win on Saturday in their first home match in six weeks with four rounds remaining.
Firing on all cylinders: Melbourne's Keisuke Honda battles for possession with Neil Kilkenny of Perth.Credit:AAP
Instead, Melbourne moved to within a point of the Sky Blues ahead of next Saturday's clash at the SCG with their arch-rivals.
It was just Perth's second loss of the season in front an A-League record crowd for the venue of 17,856.
Advertisement
Perth might have taken 19 shots to 10, but only got six on target with Melbourne scoring the only two goals.
The first came courtesy of a wonderful free-kick from Ola Toivonen in the 25th minute.
The second came when Keisuke Honda converted a penalty given for handball against Scott Neville courtesy of the VAR in the 67th.
Glory might have created plenty of opportunities in the opening half, the best thanks to Chris Ikonomidis and Joel Chianese, but only one shot was on target with Victory up 1-0 at halftime.
That was on the back of the brilliant free-kick from Toivonen. The Swede curled it up and over the wall giving Liam Reddy no chance to save it from sailing into the left corner.
That remained the only goal of an eventful first half before Chianese continued to create chance after chance for Perth, but failed to convert them.
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