A-League title race still on as Melbourne Victory beat Perth Glory

Updated: May 17, 2023, 05:24 am

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.

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.

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.

Melbourne Victory kept the title race alive with a 2-0 win over Perth Glory.
Photo by James Worsfold/Getty Images

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 half-time.

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.

Diego Castro went a lot closer with a free kick that rebounded off the top crossbar but then Melbourne made the decisive play of the match.

A Terry Antonis cross cannoned into the upper arm of Glory defender Neville with VAR determining a penalty. Japanese legend Honda had no trouble keeping it along the ground to wrap up the scoring.