A-League semi-finals: Melbourne City 2-0 Western United; Sydney FC v Perth Glory – live!

55 mins: Perth are more fluid in possession with Juande in midfield, but there remains a lack of guile in the final third. On a few occasions this half the ball has gone forward at pace, only to be shifted wide to the right to Franjic for a standing-start cross that is easy to read.

At the other end Sky Blue shirts are darting every which way and a chance would have emerged but for a poor decision from Barbarouses.

I’m not going to lie, I’m flagging a bit. I had a hot chocolate between matches but now I’m having a bit of a comedown. There better not be extra-time.

Anyway, the teams are out ready for the second half. And Perth have made a change, Tratt is on for Malik, which means Juande will, belatedly, push up into midfield.

We are in an era of golden oldies.

Sydney have one foot in the grand final. Hard to see Perth dragging this one out of the fire based on that first-half performance and what is at Popovic’s disposal on the bench.

30 mins: That only gets worse for Reddy the more you look at it. He has a touch, then a second to shift it out of his feet, seemingly oblivious to the threat.

Meanwhile Retre is booked for hauling down Brimmer after the former Liverpool man picked the former Melbourne Victory man’s pocket. The resulting free-kick is swung in dangerously and requires a Retre header to flick the ball away from Juande. The corner that follows is headed clear, but only as far as Franjic just inside the box and he goes the full Tommy Deng but misses the target by a country mile.

Oh dear, poor Liam Reddy. Long ball into the right corner from Sydney that looks to be no harm whatsoever but Barbarouses chases down the lost cause, forcing a pass back to the Perth keeper, but he doesn’t control instantly, inviting Le Fondre to continue the hunt, and the Englishman then leaps into a tackle and toe-pokes the ball softly into the empty net with Reddy, well, red-faced.

Out of nowhere Sydney are ahead. Retre pushes the ball into the box towards the feet of Le Fondre that Mrcela should intercept. All he can manage is a toe-end and that ricochets off Elrich and into the path of the fortunate Ninkovic who keeps his cool and sidefoots beyond Reddy.

6 mins: And almost the same route to goal generates almost the same outcome, except this time it’s Ninkovic forcing the nearpost save and Caceres delivering the cutback.

Perth have hardly touched the ball, and don’t seem remotely bothered about it, focussed almost entirely on retaining their defensive shape. Their out-ball is the clearance to Fornaroli, in the hope of buying a foul around halfway. After losing the physical battle on a couple of occasions the Uruguayan is eventually handed the advantage by Alex King the referee.

4 mins: This is walking football. Like a prize fight with both sluggers just shadow boxing to get their heart rates up.

Until it isn’t! And as soon as the pace is upped Sydney almost score. Brattan and Caceres link well down the right and the former gets to the byline and makes the cutback for Barbarouses to peel off a snapshot from a narrow angle that Reddy does well to smother.

Out come Perth, top to toe in purple. And they’re joined by Sydney in their sky blue jerseys with navy trim.

And what’s that? Some authentic crowd noise in the background! Huzzah! A few thousand socially distanced Sydney fans are in Bankwest Stadium, and they are making a welcome racket.

This is a lovely bit of trivia.

I know I’m old and out of touch, but Wales’ hair since the restart has been gopping.

Kilkenny on the other hand, and his resemblance to Rob Brydon, I wonder if he could find Diego Castro in the WA bush and reenact The Trip?

Perth only have three men in their starting XI under 30, and two of those (Malik and Mrcela) hit that milestone in a few weeks. Jake Brimmer, at 22, is the odd man out.

Nooooooooo! No extra-time, and no penalties please! It’s already close to my bedtime.

Two changes for Perth Glory with the experienced James Meredith preferred to Dane Ingham at left wingback, and Osama Malik replacing Kristian Popovic in a switch that will see Juande return to midfield after being press-ganged into defence against Wellington.

In contrast to the options at Corica’s disposal, Tony Popovic doesn’t have much to turn to on his bench if he wants to shake things up.

Two names stand out in Sydney’s starting XI: Joel King, the teenager in for the injured Michale Zullo at fullback, and Anthony Caceres, preferred to Alex Baumjohann in attacking midfield. Steve Corica told Fox Sports Caceres’ selection was based on form since the restart.

Handy bench at Corica’s disposal, with Buhagiar’s pace and Ivanovic’s fearlessness alongside Baumjohann’s class.

Kick-off is 8.10pm (thank God there was no extra-time in semi one) which means there’s time to read Simon Hill’s scene setter about the historic importance of Sydney FC’s campaign.

Don’t forget to drop me a line if you’re following along. Perth Glory are keeping an eye on things, and they’re clearly* the greatest team in the A-League.

*They may not be the greatest team in the A-League, but I am easily bought.

Now for semi-final number two…

Based on the ladder this shouldn’t even be a contest. Sydney had the premiership sewn up by about round eight (they won 15 of their opening 18 matches!) while Perth only snuck into the finals by a point, taking only 13 out of a possible 39 points since the middle of January.

But Glory, in the image of their coach, are nothing if not resilient. They executed their gameplan superbly against Wellington in their elimination final, and can now head into tonight’s contest as dangerous underdogs. You can be certain Popovic has a tailor made strategy for the Sky Blues too, and despite being undermanned and lacking fluidity going forward, you wouldn’t bet against another upset.

Neil Kilkenny will be of great significance to Perth tonight. The leader and organiser in midfield, it will be his job to make sure Sydney’s schemers are denied time and space in dangerous areas. He is also responsible for set-pieces, which may prove to be his side’s best route of attack in a game tin which hey’re likely to be on the back for long periods.

While a strong case can now be made for Perth’s progress, if Sydney turn up it really shouldn’t be a contest. For four years they’ve been the competition’s benchmark, recruiting smartly, planning for the medium-term, and applying a clear methodology to their football. From back to front they are unit tailored to win A-League matches, with the only concerns being a lack of squad depth, and perhaps a fragility in midfield since the departure of Brandon O’Neill in January.

But, for whatever reason, Steve Corica’s outfit comes into tonight’s match in its poorest run of form since 2016. They ended the season without a win in five matches, a run that totals just two wins in ten if including matches before the hiatus. The machine is not running smoothly.

Sydney’s superb attacking quartet of Milos Ninkovic, Adam Le Fondre, Kosta Barabrouses and Alex Baumjohann will dominate much of the analysis, and for good reason, but Sydney’s wobble has its origin further back. The cornerstone of their success under Graham Arnold and then Corica was the dual midfield pivot of O’Neill and Josh Brillante. Both have left, and neither have been replaced. Luke Brattan is an excellent player in his own right, but his skillset is perhaps not what the Sky Blues require from a defensive screen, while whoever plays alongside him, be it Paolo Retre or Anthony Caceres, is a further step down in quality. Sydney now look gettable in transition and lack that ability to pen sides into their own half with wave after wave of attacks.

However, they have lost this match-up just once in their last 15, and with 11 days to prepare, they should be cherry ripe for the occasion.

This was good telly.

City’s grinning players won’t care, but they were second best for most of that 90-minutes. Western United bossed the first half and looked assured in the second until Jamie Maclaren fired City ahead from the spot. From that point the balance of power shifted as United tired, but even then they refused to give in.

Mark Bosnich cites Tom Glover’s save after 59 minutes as the turning point, when City’s gloveman kept out Lustica from point-blank range. For all United’s dominance they didn’t create a host of clear scoring opportunities and after that one went begging there was a sense of it not being their night.

City will have to up their game on Sunday if they’re to lift the championship trophy. They were outgunned in midfield, Delbridge was embarrassed at right-back, ball movement from back to front was stogy, and the final ball – especially from Wales – was often found wanting.

But they live to fight another day. United can leave with their heads held high after a promising debut campaign.

Melbourne City are into the A-League grand final.