Officially losing his interim tag on the eve of the match, Diles backed the same line-up that beat Sydney last week and was rewarded with second-half goals from Nishan Velupillay and Santos in Perth.Â
The triumph put a six-game winless run further behind the visitors as they moved into third on the A-League Men table.
The set up play: impressive. The assist: magic. The goal celebration: EXCELLENT 🤩🔥— Isuzu UTE A-League (@aleaguemen) Santos brings out the backflip and the away bay of travelling @gomvfc fans are loving every minute 🙌Watch #PERvMVC live and exclusive NOW on Paramount+ 📺 pic.twitter.com/oPpaeBorNnFebruary 1, 2025
It was the first time this season Victory had kept clean sheets, a major turnaround from the 13 goals they'd conceded on their lean run that began when Patrick Kisnorbo surprisingly quit as coach last December.
"It's a great honour and a privilege to be named to the permanent position," said Diles.Â
"We knew it was going to be a very tough night here. It's never easy coming to Perth, irrespective of where they are on the table."
Creating several chances over the 90 minutes, Glory were left ruing a dominant opening to the second half that went begging when the game was goalless.
And despite showing improvement in recent weeks after an abject start to the season, David Zdrilic's side remain second bottom of the league, having shipped a league-worst 39 goals across their 16 games.Â
Across a frantic, opening half it was Victory's Nikos Vergos who came closest to scoring, denied in the 22nd minute when he met a Ryan Teague free kick with a strong header, only for Oli Sail to produce a magnificent, one-handed reaction save.Â
Coming out of the halftime break breathing fire, Glory did everything but score in the half's opening exchanges, their ascendancy highlighted by Brendan Hamill desperately scrambling an Adam Taggart effort off the line seconds after the re-start.Â
.— Isuzu UTE A-League (@aleaguemen) @PerthGloryFC's biggest crowd of season 24/25 - What a turnout at HBF Park tonight 💜�A packed out Shed End. Noisy all night. Well in, Glory fans 👌We know it wasn't the desired result, but that was some display in the stands 🙌📸: @neilsherwin pic.twitter.com/2F9TEhP70OFebruary 1, 2025
"It's not ideal, because when it's (back and forth) you don't really have control of the match and that's something we want to improve," said Diles.Â
But the hosts' inability to find a way past Mitch Langerak, who started his second-straight game since returning to Victory after 15 years abroad, soon came to haunt them.Â
Following in a Machach effort parried away by Sail, Velupillay put the visitors ahead just past the hour and five minutes later Vergos swung in a cross onto the head of Santos, with the Brazilian backflipping away in celebration of his goal.
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