DEFENDING champions Western United have grabbed a bittersweet 2-1 victory over Perth Glory in the final game of the A-league men season at HBF Park.<\/p>\n
Western picked up the points in Saturday’s clash but it meant little to either club, who both missed out on a finals spot.<\/p>\n
Both clubs went into the game knowing any chance of a finals appearance had gone after Wellington Phoenix grabbed a 1-0 win over Macarthur a few hours earlier to secure sixth spot.<\/p>\n
Glory had been hoping for a Macarthur victory to give them a sniff of the finals and Western would have been hoping for a miracle, needing to make up a whopping goal difference.<\/p>\n
But in the end, it left the two sides with little to play for except pride and bragging rights.<\/p>\n
Glory never really bothered Western goalkeeper Jamie Young as the visitors created the best first-half chances.<\/p>\n
“It was important for us to finish as high up as possible,\u201d said Western coach John Aloisi. \u201cIt was a good win.<\/p>\n
“We had a terrible start to the season but we will learn from things we could have done better.<\/p>\n
“We showed we are a team that can go anywhere and play good football and win games.”<\/p>\n
Steven Lustica went close for Western with a curled effort, Alessandro Diamanti, in his last game, fired in a long-range free kick that was easily dealt with by Glory goal keeper Cameron Cook and a cross skidded across the Perth area untouched.<\/p>\n
But Cook was at fault when he let a Benjamin Garuccio shot slip between his legs to give Western the lead midway through the opening period.<\/p>\n
Glory’s Ryan Williams watched his clever chip slip past the post before Cook saved at close range from Dylan Pierias and Jack Clisby cleared Garuccio’s shot from the rebound.<\/p>\n
Glory equalised against the run of play on the stroke of halftime when Keegan Jelacic intercepted a poor Leo Lacroix clearance to fire home.<\/p>\n
Five minutes after the break, Glory had a goal ruled out for offside and Noah Botic struck immediately as Western regained the lead.<\/p>\n
Glory’s cause was not helped when defender Mark Beevers was sent off on the hour after two quick yellow cards while a penalty claim when Adam Zimarino went down was turned away.<\/p>\n