Ferguson disappointed with Wellington defeat

Perth Glory coach Ian Ferguson said his team were unlucky not to secure a point after watching them lose 1-0 to Wellington on Saturday.

Phoenix defender Ben Sigmund headed home a Leo Bertos corner in the 85th minute to snatch the three points from a scrappy and sometimes bad-tempered match that saw Wellington reduced to 10 men when substitute Mirjan Pavlovic was sent off deep into stoppage time.

Perth had two good chances early on but Liam Miller and Josh Mitchell could not convert.

Ferguson felt Glory had a clear-cut penalty when Vince Lia handled the ball in the area after Miller’s attempt had come back off Tony Lochhead.

“It was a clear handball. Everybody sees it but for some reason Perth Glory don’t seem to be getting any penalties recently,” Ferguson said.

“But I thought the effort that the boys put in was tremendous.”

“To come away with a loss today I’m very disappointed because I thought they put a great amount of effort into the game.”

Glory captain Jacob Burns admitted some frustration with referee Ryan Shepheard.

“Decisions don’t always go your way but I think both teams were a little disappointed with the consistency,” Burns said.

“I thought we did enough to get something out of the game today. The boys played fantastic.”

“We controlled the first half. Wellington came out in the second half and made it difficult for us but on another day, a couple of decisions go our way, and we could have been coming away with all the points.”

Glory goalkeeper Danny Vukovic sent a scare through the side when he hurt his left ankle early in the second half. He received treatment on the pitch and lasted the full game, even getting himself up in the Phoenix box late on and attempting a bicycle kick for goal as Perth pressed for the equaliser.

Ferguson was hopeful his keeper would be fit for Perth’s game against Melbourne Heart next week.

“We’ll have a look at him in the next 24 hours. He’ll get a scan. We’ll let it settle,” he said.

“But he should be okay, hopefully.”