It was a tough outing for the Jets, who couldn’t get a result despite dominating the Glory for the majority of the afternoon.
The possession was 60/40 in the Jets favour, the home side had 22 shots to the Glory’s four, but it was Perth who scored twice and kept a clean sheet.
Tony Popovic’s men travel back across the Nullabor with three points in their pocket, regaining top spot on the ladder.
It was an electric start at McDonald Jones Stadium, as Jair had a shot on goal just 12 seconds in and was only denied by a reflex save from Liam Reddy.
Almost immediately the Glory were up the other end on the counter, with Joel Chianese tangling with Glen Moss on his way to goal. The referee awarded a penalty, and the VAR chose not to intervene.
Neil Kilkenny converted from the spot and gave the visitors the lead in the second minute of play.
The Jets did not let the early deficit dampen their attacking nature, as they pressed for a return to parity. Daniel Georgievski put on a wonderful cross for Jair in the 17th minute, only for the Brazilian’s header to cannon into the woodwork.
Jair forced Liam Reddy into another spectacular effort a few minutes later, hitting a low, driving strike through traffic that almost snuck past the Glory custodian.
Midway through the half, Perth doubled their lead as Jason Davidson took advantage of a goalmouth scramble following an attacking free kick.
From there it seemed as though the Glory were ready to call it quits, taking every opportunity to run down the clock.
Merrick wasted no time in changing up his game plan to arrest control of the game, as Vujica made way for Hoffman as the Scotsman went to three at the back.
The move from Merrick seemed to be having the desired effect, with Hoffman having quality chances on both sides of the break – but both just fell wide of the mark.
His side pushed to gain the advantage but struggled to break the Glory down, as they put numbers behind the ball.
Jair and Daniel Georgievski were menacing on the left edge and created some opportunities to score but the final pass ultimately let the Jets down.
There were calls for a penalty late in the match, as Ronald Vargas was brought down as he tracked towards goal – the VAR did take a look but deemed that no foul had occurred.
The Jets will now focus on an F3 Derby against the Central Coast Mariners in Gosford next week.
