By TERRY MADDAFORD
The longest trip in international club soccer ended in despair for the Football Kingz when they were beaten 3-1 by Perth Glory in front of a disappointing crowd of just under 10,000 at Perth Oval last night.
Ahead 2-0 at halftime, the home side avenged their earlier 4-1 loss
at North Harbour Stadium by scoring their 14th win of the season and going to the top of the NSL table after losing their previous two outings.
Perth went ahead in the 20th minute when captain Gareth Naven volleyed home a left-foot shot after a good ball from Bobby Trajkovski.
They went further ahead three minutes later with a controversial goal from Jamie Harnwell who had stolen the ball close to halfway before taking a few steps and unleashing a 25m shot which hit the crossbar and bounced down.
The linesman indicated the ball had crossed the line and the referee awarded the goal.
The Kingz began the second half strongly and were rewarded in the 66th minute when the Glory defence failed to clear a weak Lee Jones corner kick. Jones regathered, found Chris Jackson who drove the ball goalwards and watched in delight as the ball was deflected by a defender over hapless goalkeeper Jason Petkovic.
But any joy was shortlived. Within a minute the home side went 3-1 ahead when substitute Aurelio Vidmar gathered a ball from Naven and gave Kingz goalkeeper Michael Utting no chance with his hard-hit volley from close range.
The Kingz made three second-half substitutions but apart from a "goal" from Wynton Rufer - ruled out as offside - they rarely threatened and were left to contemplate their second loss in four days after losing 2-0 to Adelaide Force on Thursday.
