Despite making a quick-fire start to their National Youth League campaign through debutant Christopher Cristaldo, Melbourne City were forced to settle for a score draw after being pegged back by Perth Glory in the second half.
The former Melbourne Victory attacker took just three minutes to formally open his City account with a tidy finish before Glory skipper Slobodan Vulin equalised early in the second half with a vicious low free-kick.
City came out the more aggressive of the two teams and opened the scoring with a textbook play straight off the training pitch; Philip Petreski took the ball deep into the area before cutting it back to the penalty spot.
Cristaldo was on the receiving end of the well worked ball and with a strong right foot shot found the net to opening the scoring in just the third minute.
City continue to be the more attacking of the two teams in the first half and the scoreboard could have easily ticked over a few more times.
Unlucky shots combined with quality defending from the Glory saw City struggle to press home their advantage of possession deep into the final third.
South Melbourne fledgling Andy Kecojevic send a rocket just inches wide of the upright just before the half-time whistle but the break would come with no change to the scores.
After the break, an early free-kick found Perth’s Vulin lining up his radar just outside the area.
His shot made its way under the feet of City’s Tomislav Fadljevic in a five man wall and curled into the bottom right corner past the outstretched hand of City senior keeper Tando Velaphi.
Joining him in the senior stakes was Socceroos fullback Ivan Franjic who put in an industrious shift in his 60-minute cameo.
“That was his first hit out in a couple of months. John van ’t Schip is upstairs [with the coaches] and they’ll make an assessment on him,” coach Joe Palatsidis said on the returning Franjic.
“It was good to see that he got through 60 minutes, obviously the tempo at A-League level is a lot harder so [the senior coaches] will make the call as to whether he needs another hit out or if they take him straight into the squad.”
The balance of the game started to shift as the Glory found their rhythm and played their own game.
Both teams continued to press to find the winner however it wouldn’t come, although there were certainly chances which brought both keepers into the action.
There was a big call for a penalty just two minutes from time when Kecojevic was taken down inside the area by Glory defender Dejan Spaseski.
Kecojevic was left clutching his right knee as referee Adam Bavcar waved away the penalty claims.
Three minutes of extra time ensued before the final whistle delivered the 1-1 result.
Despite that late penalty scare, Spaseski was pleased with the point especially given they were the away team.
“It was a solid away performance from us. We stuck to our game plan and we got a good result. I thought we could have gotten all three [points] but we’ll take the point away from home,” Spaseski said.
“There’s positives and negatives [to the new structure]. Positives are that it helps us get ready for the NPL, which all the clubs will be playing in, but the negatives are that we’d like an 18-game season.”
Palatsides on the other hand wasn’t left satisfied after witnessing his side cough up an early lead, but believes that with a little more consistency, the wins will come.
“Probably not satisfied with either [the result or the performance]. When we go out, we always want to win,” he said.
“We were patchy for much of the game, we controlled it in some parts but others we fell apart and lost a bit of concentration. It’s those patches we need to get right but when we do, I’ll say we’re satisfied.
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Match Details
Melbourne City 1 (Cristaldo 3’) drew with Perth Glory 1 (Vulin 49’) at CB Smith Reserve
Melbourne City: 40. Tando VELAPHI (GK), 5. Ivan FRANJIC (36. Matthew MILLAR 58’), 37. Leo ATHANASIOU, 46. Christopher CRISTALDO, 39. Mahmut Ali EYIGUN (c), 43. Tomislav FADLJEVIC, 38. Luke GALLO (48. Mehdi SARWARI 65’), 44. Jordan HALL, 45. Andy KECOJEVIC, 35. Phil PETRESPI, 34. Stefan ZINNI ( 6. Denis GENREAU 81’)
Unused Substitute(s): 47. Anthony CASSET (GK)
Yellow Card(s): Velaphi 40’, Petreski 61’, Millar 78’
Red Card(s): Nil
Perth Glory: 1. Jordan THURTELL (GK), 2. Henry DURR, 8. Walieldin ISMAIL, 9. Joseph KNOWLES, 5. Ross MILLARD, 3. Dejan SPASESKI, 4. Aleks SUSJNAR, 11. Nikola TALIMDZIOSKI, 7. Stefan VALENTINI, 10. Slobodan VULIN (c), 6. Calvin WHITNEY
Unused Substitute(s): 20. Joel DRISCOLL (GK), 13. Sam MCKEARNEN, 14. Hayden STEVENS, 12. Stefan TROUP
Yellow Card(s): Nil
Red Card(s): Nil