Perth Glory maintained their unbeaten start to the A-League season with a hard-fought 1-0 win against Melbourne City in weekend action, as Sydney FC suffered a shock home defeat.
Socceroos attacker Chris Ikonomidis got the decisive goal on the brink of half-time for Glory and when Melbourne’s Curtis Good was dismissed for two yellow cards, there was no way back for Warren Joyce’s men.
Perth are now on a run of seven games without defeat, topping the table on 17 points, two ahead of Keisuke Honda’s Melbourne Victory who had a comfortable 2-0 home win against Adelaide United.
“You have to be happy with another three points, another home win,” said Perth coach Tony Popovic. “It was a tough match and a physical encounter.
“Melbourne City played well. They came out very strong in the first half, but in the second half the game changed and I didn’t think we were caused many problems by them.”
In Sydney, Wellington Phoenix scored an upset 3-1 win, with all their goals coming in a first-half blighted by defensive errors.
Roy Krishna netted twice in nine minutes for the New Zealand outfit with Steven Taylor adding a third from a towering header.
It left Sydney six points adrift of Perth.
