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Garcia 'baffled' by early A-League ending

3 minute read

A peculiar weather-induced early finish has left Perth Glory boss Richard Garcia fuming as his side suffered a second defeat in five days.

STEVE CORICA.
STEVE CORICA. Picture: Don Arnold/Getty Images

Perth Glory coach Richard Garcia cut a frustrated figure after a 1-0 loss to Sydney FC on Wednesday evening, saying he was "baffled" by the match ending a minute early due to lightning around Jubilee Stadium.

The lights partly went out on 89 minutes ahead of an expected four minutes of added time, but A-League rules allow for the result to stand if a match is abandoned after 45 minutes.

Kick-off was earlier delayed for 45 minutes as a storm swept through southern Sydney.

Sydney FC were leading by a lone Kosta Barbarouses goal early in the second half with Glory goalkeeper Liam Reddy keeping the champions at bay on countless occasions.

But the Glory, who are desperate for points to stay in touch with the top six, were finally displaying some promise in attack during the latter stages of the contest.

"We can call off the game, but the players are still doing interviews on the pitch," said Garcia.

"I'm all for player welfare (but) we are still doing interviews on the pitch (after the match) so why does the game get called off. Baffled to say the least."

Garcia also felt his side should have had a first-half penalty when Carlo Armiento appeared to be brought down.

"Stonewall penalty ... In every league in the world, including this one, that is a penalty," Garcia said.

"It changes the whole game. VAR say they checked it, who is running VAR?

"It is a penalty every day of the week.

"When things go against us, they really go against us, and that was the case tonight in every sense."

In truth, Sydney FC could have had the three points sewn up by half-time.

Reddy made a world-class diving save to deny Bobo, and also denied the Brazilian with a miracle block that then came back off the frame of the goal.

There were countless other chances and penalty-area incursions by the home side, and coach Steve Corica believes it is a sign of his side's growing momentum with four wins from their last six outings.

"We were in control of that game, obviously they were chasing it at the end there," said Corica.

"I thought we were very good, we created a lot of chances and Liam Reddy was very good for them again tonight.

"We were always going to do it (put together a winning run), we have the players to do it, so it is just about cutting out the silly mistakes we were making."

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