Glory draw leaves Hearts broken

Melbourne Heart have been denied their first A-League win with a controversial
injury-time penalty which stole Perth Glory a 2-2 draw at AAMI Park on Sunday.
The competition newboys led 2-1 until three minutes into stoppage time, when referee
Kurt Ams awarded a penalty as Glory's Michael Baird theatrically hit the deck under
a challenge from Heart substitute Kliment Taseski.
Television replays showed there was minimal, if any contact, between the two.
But Robbie Fowler stepped up to slot home the penalty and secure a point for the
Glory, who had fought back strongly in the second half after the Heart had outplayed
them in the first.
A penalty to Gerald Sibon gave the Heart the lead after just five minutes when his
striking partner Alex Terra was manhandled in the box by Glory's Naum Sekulovski.
The Glory hit back to equalise after a dreadful Heart defensive mix-up on 19 minutes.
Heart goalkeeper Clint Bolton failed to come for a Fowler cross, the ball skidded
off defender Brendan Hamill's head and thumped into the chest of his teammate
Michael Marrone and into the net.
But the Heart continued to push the ball around well and were rewarded when
midfielder Nick Kalmar was rewarded for an outstanding match with his goal in the
37th minute.
Kalmar's low, thumping right-foot shot on the turn gave the Heart a well-deserved
lead to the cheers of the 6,000-strong crowd.
Perth came out in far better touch in the second half, but were denied by two
brilliant Bolton saves.
First the Heart keeper dived low to his left to stop a goal-bound Fowler thunderbolt
in the 71st minute, then Bolton dived at the feet of Sekulovski to deny him eight
minutes later.
But there was little he could do with Fowler's well-struck penalty.
Perth remain top of the table, with the Heart still bottom with two draws from their
four matches.



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