A-League Men: Perth Glory fall to 1-0 loss to Western Sydney Wanderers after injury-time Ryan Fraser winner

A stoppage time strike by former English Premier League winger Ryan Fraser has doomed a dreadful Perth Glory to a 1-0 defeat to Western Sydney Wanderers at CommBank Stadium. While the searing temperatures in Parramatta sapped the energy of both sides, the hosts found a second wind in the final 30 minutes as Perth looked drained and offered little all game. And just a few days after sacking coach Alen Stajcic, the Wanderers were rewarded when Fraser, making his debut off the bench, found the net with a deflected effort from a corner in the 92nd minute. While the timing hurt Perth, in truth they offered little to prove they were deserving of a point — and while the heat could offer some excuse, it did not seem to affect Western Sydney, who came home with a wet sail. Had it not been for the herculean efforts of Brian Kaltak and Scott Wootton who blocked numerous efforts between them, interim Western Sydney coach Gary van Egmond may have been celebrating a win a little earlier. The honeymoon is now well and truly over for new Glory coach Adam Griffiths with Perth having lost five of their last seven, three points above the foot of the ladder and five points adrift of the top six. “It hurts. We had some good moments in the first half. We just didn’t take those moments,” Griffiths said on Paramount+. “They’re a very good team, a very good squad in Western Sydney, they make three big changes, it changed the game and we weren’t good enough with the ball in those moments. We turned over the ball cheaply, and then the pressure kept coming.” “The easiest way to take steam out of the game is keep the ball and when we’re turning over the ball cheaply.” With the mercury hitting 35 degrees at kick-off in Parramatta, kick-off was pushed back two hours, while two drinks breaks were permitted in each half. The result was two tired teams struggling through the oppressive conditions, with both defences content to park the high press and instead conserve energy by sitting deep. Western Sydney midfielders Dylan Scicluna and Steven Ugarkovic both controlled possession well, forward Brandon Borrello linked up well with his support and wide options Aidan Simmons and Aydan Hammond were dangerous. By contrast, Perth’s midfield had substantially less influence as Rhys Bozinovski and Gio De Abreu struggled to put their stamp on the game, while Perth resorted to direct, long diagonals to the wingers to little avail. But despite this, Glory had the best two chances of the opening 45. In the 21st minute, Tom Lawrence delivered a perfectly-weighted pass to Adam Taggart, who disappointingly hit his shot straight at Lawrence Thomas in goal. Taggart then turned a provider when his clever dink found Nicholas Pennington, but the Wanderers goalkeeper produced a strong one-handed saved. Looking for some energy, Griffiths interjected Will Freney and Sebastian Despotovski into the game at half-time for De Abreu and Trent Ostler; the former’s defensive work-rate was evident, while the latter caused the Wanderers problems with his speed. But it took 33 minutes for the next substitution despite the heat; by the time Stefan Colakovski made his return to competitive football, Glory hesitation in and around the penalty box had allowed the Wanderers to take control of the game. Matt Sutton was forced to save Kraev’s effort from an acute angle, as Fraser quickly made his presence felt off the bench as he watched two efforts blocked by Kaltak in quick succession before Angus Thurgate somehow contrived to loft the follow-up over the bar from almost six yards out. Kaltak made another block to deny Kraev a few minutes later, then Fraser was denied by the post and fellow substitute Awan Lual hit the bar in the 90th minute. As Western Sydney pressed for the winner, Sutton made an excellent stop from Fraser, but the winger had the last laugh in injury-time.