Credit | Emily Mogic Credit | Emily Mogic

Saturday’s 1-0 loss against Perth Glory at Kingston Heath, was Melbourne Victory’s last regular home outing of the season and their last opportunity to impress in front of the home crowd heading into the finals.

Melbourne started this match with a much better tempo than many they’ve played so far.

Jess Fishlock looked tanned and relaxed as she dashed around, hunting and playing the ball. The early signs were good, they looked confident. It looked like a match they were ready to win.

Then it unravelled somewhat. Not completely, it wasn’t a dreadful game.

In fact, upon reflection, Melbourne actually didn’t really play that mediocre at all. What happened was, Perth played them better at their own game.

Jamie Harnwell and his squad stuck to their plan, which no doubt included double teaming the plucky and troublesome stars of Melbourne, repeatedly repelling all attacks.

Melbourne’s best opportunity to score was one that had the crowd on their feet even before the moment happened.

Picture Lisa De Vanna flying past all defenders, with only the goalkeeper left to beat. If you’ve seen it before, your money would be on the fleet footed veteran.

With so many options, De Vanna was perhaps at sixes and sevens with which way to go and in the end it went nowhere.

Could anything have changed if De Vanna was able to score in her one on one foray against Chantal Jones? Would the entire result have changed if Melbourne was 1-0 up early on a hot day?

Well, that’s not the nature of the game, and to be honest, it detracts from the dominant game played by Jones, who was clearly on top of anything thrown her way.

Not long after De Vanna’s chance, Kate Gill responded quickly to a rebound from a Shawn Billam strike. It put Glory up 1-0, a scoreline which they protected for the rest of the match.

In a season where seizing the opportunity seems to be the motto of the day, Gill explicitly got the memo.

For much of the rest of the match, Victory controlled the ball in the midfield but were unable to penetrate Glory’s strong defensive structure.

On the rare occasion that Glory travelled up to visit Brianna Davey, Victory seemed a little disorganised, at one time leading to Edmondson’s fierce cry from the coach’s box to “Take responsibility and pick people up”.

The long range challenges on Davey seemed to be working a treat as well and highlights perhaps a chink in the talented custodian’s armour.

Up forward, the height of Perth’s defenders is one thing Dave Edmondson will look to counter if a similar situation arises.

Perth controlled the air. For every single corner Melbourne won, and there were a few, Perth were easily able to dismiss them. The set pieces weren’t working.

More for Edmondson to think about is that one of Melbourne’s strengths throughout the season has been their cohesion and understanding of each other’s game.

Their communication and concentration also lapsed here and there. It makes you wonder that with a few changes to the  starting lineup and the introduction of a few new players, perhaps that cohesion is now just a little disjointed and agitated.

Not that there’s anything wrong in a larger sense, more that the smooth understanding is amiss but well and truly welcome to return.

On a positive note for Victory, Lauren Barnes was quite pleasing to watch and even managed to push forward from her deep position following the substitution of Caitlin Friend off the field. In Barnes’ first home game, she surprised many with her impressive free kick.

That’s definitely something we will be happy to see more of.

Katie Hoyle was her typical reliable self, chasing down balls and deftly distributing it around her. Whilst, Jess Samuelsson continues to prove that she’s full of talent and drive and definitely one to watch in the future.

Fishlock and De Vanna both worked hard throughout the game but were definitely impacted by the double teaming plan from Harnwell.

Custodian Chantal Jones was undeniably one Perth’s best players.

With Victory attacking so frequently, Jones was integral to Glory’s success. Where she not only managed to stop shots on goal, her booming goal kicks and great placement was everything you could ask for and more.

Jones’ commanding performance was an orchestration of her team as she unceasingly directed their next move.

For the rest of the Glory squad, top marks to all of the tall defenders. Sasha Andrews and Cecilie Sandvej played particularly well and no amount of interest from the team in blue troubled them.

Throughout the game, Melbourne looked like the little engine that could.

They generally had great possession and control but to their great credit, Glory took every bit of pressure, added their own and won out in the end with their ability to shut down Melbourne’s strikers and defend, defend, defend.