Perth Glory coach Ian Ferguson insists his team is yet to taste grand final revenge despite recording a 1-0 victory over defending A-League premiers Brisbane Roar at Subiaco Oval on Sunday.
The Glory were left heartbroken in last season's decider when Roar striker Besart Berisha was awarded a controversial penalty at the death which allowed him to score the winning goal.
Brisbane had 168 days to savour that 2-1 win before fronting up against Perth again.
But it was the Roar who had to endure some late pain this time around, with substitute Glory striker Billy Mehmet heading home in the 88th minute to give Perth the perfect start to the season.
Mehmet, who replaced Shane Smeltz in the 84th minute, described the win as "payback" for the grand final heartbreak, but Ferguson was more measured in his assessment.
"People are going to talk about revenge, but revenge is when you've got the cup in your hand. This was three points today," Ferguson said.
Berisha was enemy number one throughout the match as a heaving pro-Glory crowd of 14,085 gave the 27-year-old the most hostile of receptions.
The Perth fans spared no expense in venting their fury over Berisha's grand final dive, with one support group organising a pre-match fly-over bearing the message: "Diving classes call 1300 Go Roar".
Tempers threatened to boil over in the 34th minute when Liam Miller put his knees into the back of Berisha after the Roar striker fell to the turf in a tackle.
Miller was shown a yellow card for the incident, but Berisha also found himself in the book on the stroke off halftime when he was involved in an altercation with Glory defender Dean Heffernan.
Ferguson was pleased with how his players dealt with the emotion surrounding Berisha.
"I made that clear that we wanted everyone staying on the park and no silly bookings," Ferguson said.
"I was delighted with how they handled that today."
Roar coach Rado Vidosic, who took over the reins of Brisbane for the first time following Ange Postecoglou's defection to Melbourne Victory, felt Berisha handled the extra attention well.
"I think he played very good. Unfortunately he just couldn't get in a better situation to score a goal," Vidosic said.
Brisbane had a chance to equalise in the dying minutes, but Ben Halloran's strike cannoned into the post.
Vidosic remains good friends with Postecoglou, but the pair are likely to keep contact to a minimum ahead of Saturday's clash between the Roar and Victory at Lang Park.
Perth Glory: 1 (B Mehmet 88')
Brisbane Roar: 0
Tags: a-league, soccer, sport, perth-6000, wa, brisbane-4000, qld, australia First posted October 07, 2012 19:15:52