A valiant Brisbane Roar Youth have narrowly gone down 2-1 to a Perth Glory Youth side that featured seven Hyundai A-league regulars when they faced off at 6PR Stadium in Perth on Saturday.
Perth took advantage of their more established line-up going on the attack from the outset, the early pressure paid off for the Glory taking a two goal lead through Tommy Amphlett in the 27th minute and Anthony Scorich in the 37th.
A determined Brisbane fought back from the start of the second half, cutting into Perth-s lead only 45 seconds after the restart through Matt Thurtell.
The Roar continued to step up their attack as the second half progressed with opportunities to Ken Dougall and Rocky Visconte, however Brisbane-s continued push could not break down Perth-s experienced defence.
Brisbane Head Coach John Sime was proud of his side-s effort, praising their performance in an already difficult away fixture made only tougher due to the inclusion of the Hyundai A-League players to the Perth line-up.
“We played incredibly well, in fact that was our best team performance all season and it was really unlucky for the boys that they couldn-t get the reward of a better result,” said Sime.
“I thought we absolutely dominated them in the second half, I can-t fault the player-s effort or technique on the day, they really put in their best possible performance and that is all I ask of the players.
“I hadn-t really taken much notice of the Perth line-up until just before kickoff and I was really surprised when I saw that they were starting seven Hyundai A-League regulars, the boys did very well to match it with their more experienced opposition.”
Although the loss is the Roar-s second in a row, Sime is confident that it shouldn-t take long for his side to convert such quality performances in to wins.
“If the boys maintain the high standard of play they demonstrated on Saturday they are well on their way to getting the result,” Sime said.
“We have a tough trip to Wollongong this week to take on Sydney so it is going to be another game where our best performance is going to be required.
“This game will be a great indicator of how the boys can back up; I believe they will be up to the challenge.”
