Perth Glory, Wellington Phoenix Split Points in Season-Opening Stalemate

The A-League season began with familiar frustration at HBF Park on Saturday, as Perth Glory and Wellington Phoenix played to a 2-2 draw that felt less like a fresh start and more like an extension of both clubs' uncertain summers.

Perth Glory raced to a two-goal advantage inside the opening half-hour, exploiting Wellington's disorganized backline with strikes in the 16th and 26th minutes. The home supporters, starved for optimism after watching their side suffer a 3-0 drubbing to Melbourne Victory in a September friendly, dared to believe this might be the beginning of something different. It wasn't.

Wellington pulled one back on the stroke of halftime, a goal that shifted the stadium's energy from celebration to apprehension. That unease proved warranted when the Phoenix equalized in the 70th minute, completing a comeback that exposed Perth's fragility—the same vulnerability that has plagued them through a turbulent preseason.

The result leaves both clubs with a single point in the nascent A-League campaign, neither able to claim the momentum that might have carried them forward. Perth sits ninth in the early standings, Wellington 11th, though such positions mean little three hours into a months-long season. What matters more is the impression left: two teams still searching for an identity, still uncertain of their capabilities.

For Perth Glory, the collapse represents a troubling pattern. Unable to protect a commanding lead at home, they allowed Wellington to dictate terms in the second half. The Phoenix, meanwhile, demonstrated resilience after their humiliating 4-0 Australia Cup defeat to Heidelberg United in August—a loss that raised serious questions about their competitive standards. Saturday's fightback suggests those questions remain unanswered rather than resolved.

The two clubs have developed a peculiar kinship this year, having already faced each other in July's Australia Cup, also ending 1-1. That match offered no winner, no clarity, no separation between the sides. Saturday's encounter followed the same script, two teams locked in a stalemate that benefits neither but defines both.

Perth's early dominance created the illusion of control. Their supporters watched those opening 26 minutes with the relief of people who had been holding their breath, finally exhaling. The football was crisp, the finishing clinical. Then Wellington reminded them why hope in Australian football often proves premature.

The Phoenix's second-half resurgence wasn't pretty—Wellington rarely is—but it was effective. They absorbed Perth's early pressure, weathered the storm, and capitalized when their hosts' concentration wavered. It's the kind of performance that wins points without winning admiration, the sort of result that keeps teams afloat without lifting them higher.

Both clubs now face the peculiar challenge of the A-League's opening weeks: trying to build momentum from a draw, attempting to craft a narrative from inconclusion. Perth must confront their inability to close out matches. Wellington must decide whether their comeback represents character or merely postpones inevitable reckoning.

The anonymity of the goal scorers—their names lost to incomplete records—feels oddly appropriate for a match that provided more questions than answers. Four goals, four moments of consequence, yet the day ended where it began: with uncertainty, with parity, with the sense that both teams have considerable work ahead.

As the A-League season unfolds, Perth and Wellington will hope Saturday's draw represents a foundation rather than a ceiling. But foundations require stability, and neither side demonstrated much of that at HBF Park. They showed glimpses, possibilities, potential—the vocabulary of teams still forming, still learning, still trying to figure out who they are.

For now, they're two clubs sharing a point and sharing a problem: neither could find a way to win when winning mattered most.