Fresh faces line up for Glory
Perth Glory opened their schedule of pre-season friendly matches with a 1-1 draw against Inglewood United at Intiga Stadium last night.
Four of Glory’s new signings were on show in the first half, including striker Andy Keogh, who scored a close-range equaliser after Inglewood had taken a surprise early lead through Ryan Clarke.
The match was played in honour of the late Siggy Kramer, a long-time servant of Inglewood who died last week.
The winner of the Kramer Memorial Cup was decided on penalties, with Inglewood winning the shootout 4-3 in front of about 350 fans who braved the cold.
Glory’s off-season recruits Keogh, Richard Garcia, Diogo Ferreira and Dino Djulbic all got valuable game time in the first half, while Scott Jamieson made his first appearance in eight months after an Achilles injury.
Inglewood struck first through Clarke, whose low left-foot shot from the edge of the penalty area found the bottom corner of the net in the 11th minute.
Clarke has been one of the leading National Premier League WA scorers this season and his performances have put him on Glory’s radar.
Glory hit back just before the half-hour mark when Michael Thwaite squared a ball for Keogh to side-foot the ball into an empty net.
Coach Kenny Lowe made 10 changes at half-time and fielded an inexperienced line-up after the break.
Glory substitute Jamie Maclaren went close to putting his side in front with two narrow misses within five minutes of the restart.
Both sides had a raft of chances to break the deadlock in the second half, but neither could make the most of their opportunities.
Glory have interstate matches against Adelaide United (July 20) and Sydney Olympic (July 23) over the next week before their clash with high-profile Spanish club Malaga CF at nib Stadium on July 27.
Glory’s first competitive fixture of the 2014-15 season is a first-round FFA Cup tie away to Newcastle Jets on August 5.
