Top six ... Melbourne Heart leave Perth Glory at the bottom of the A-League ladder. Source: AAP
Melbourne Heart piled more pressure on battling Perth Glory coach Ian Ferguson as a brilliant Nick Kalmar free-kick helped deliver a 2-0 A-League win at AAMI Park on Saturday night.
Kalmar's first-half strike was backed up by a second-half goal from returned striker Eli Babalj.
The Glory's loss kept them bottom of the table, with last season's grand finalists having lost four games straight, with no goals in that stretch, to extend their winless streak to eight. The Heart climbed into the top six.
| P | W | D | L | GD | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Central Coast | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 22 | 42 |
| 2 | Western Sydney | 20 | 12 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 38 |
| 3 | Victory | 20 | 11 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 36 |
| 4 | Adelaide | 20 | 11 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 35 |
| 5 | Heart | 20 | 7 | 3 | 10 | -1 | 24 |
| 6 | Newcastle | 20 | 6 | 5 | 9 | -9 | 23 |
| 7 | Brisbane | 19 | 6 | 3 | 10 | -1 | 21 |
| 8 | Sydney | 19 | 6 | 3 | 10 | -9 | 21 |
| 9 | Wellington | 20 | 5 | 5 | 10 | -15 | 20 |
| 10 | Perth | 20 | 5 | 4 | 11 | -4 | 19 |
Perth had plenty of chances.
Shane Smeltz had a great opportunity in the 19th minute after former Glory defender Jamie Coyne gave up the ball in the penalty area, but Smeltz couldn't get enough power on his left-footer to beat 'keeper Andrew Redmayne.
The Glory protested furiously two minutes later after Chris Harold's foot was clipped by Melbourne's Patrick Gerhardt as he was about to stream into an open penalty area, but no free-kick was awarded.
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Perth's disappointment was soon magnified when Melbourne's Matt Thompson won a free kick, and Kalmar's wonderful shot, from close to 25m, curled over the wall and clipped the underside of the crossbar on the way past a helpless Danny Vukovic.
Vukovic managed to stop two bullet-like long-range shots from the Heart's David Williams later in the half.
In between, Perth's Travis Dodd miscued a close-range effort after nice set-up work from Harold.
Babalj, recently back from a stint in Serbia, scored 12 minutes into the second half, a straightforward finish after a Jonathan Germano shot rebounded off the right post.
Glory substitute Ryo Nagai tried to reply, but couldn't connect well enough with either of his back-to-back shots from inside the penalty area, both cleared away by defenders.
Perth's desperate calls for a handball by Gerhardt inside the penalty area midway through the second half went unanswered.
Perth coach Ian Ferguson says budget cuts have caused his side's slump from A-League grand finalists to cellar dwellers but he wouldn't blame owner Tony Sage if he fires him.
Asked how the Glory, runners-up last season, had sunk so far, Ferguson blamed squad depth.
"When you look at the grand final squad and what we've got now, there's a massive difference,'' Ferguson told reporters.
''(We had) experienced players and two fighting for each position. We've just not got that now because of huge budget cuts within the club.''
Ferguson said senior players Billy Mehmet, Jesse Makarounas and Bas van den Brink quitting the club mid-season made it even tougher.
But he said there would be no excuses if Sage, due to have major heart surgery in the coming week, sacked him.
"I'm big enough and ugly enough to know that my job is about results,'' the Glory coach said.
"At the end of the day, Tony will make that decision on me ... I'm not going to quit, that's for sure ... I've got another year on my contract left but, if Tony came and patted me on the shoulder tomorrow and said I was fired, then there's nothing I can argue with.''
Ferguson labelled next weekend's clash with top-placed Central Coast a virtual grand final for Perth.
The Heart climbed into the top six with Saturday night's win, highlighted by a wonderful first-half free-kick goal from Nick Kalmar.
Chuffed Heart coach John Aloisi said his side have to reproduce that form away, starting against Newcastle on Friday night, having not won outside Melbourne this season.
"If we want to make finals, we need to pick up a couple of results away from home,'' Aloisi said.
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