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Glory Academy punish Forrestfield

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NPL Academy

PGFC Academy first team maintained their consistently strong performances in the Football West NPL after a 6-1 win against Forrestfield United at Ashfield Arena on Saturday afternoon.

Michael Domfeh and Henry Hore gave them the lead at the break, but Forrestfield reduced the margin just after half-time with Hasani Sinclair scoring.

Domfeh added his second and Hore did likewise from the penalty spot to put them in control of the game and late goals from Chok Dau and Bayley Brown-Montgomery wrapped up a comprehensive win.

Academy Head Coach John Gibson said his side put in a strong consistent performance, but he said they need to be better.

“Relatively pleased with the performance today, and yes we did score a few goals, but we are still looking for major improvement in all areas of our game, and all the players are searching for more improvement,” he said.

“The whole group is always working tirelessly hard for each other and for the same common goal. Saying that, we were a bit flat in the first half and not happy to concede straight after halftime as we have strategies for key timings of the game.”

Gibson said his squad’s depth has been tested in recent weeks, and there was another senior debut on Saturday, with under 20’s player Aiden Edwards, who scored a stunner to win the Reserves cup Semi-Final against ECU Joondalup two weeks ago, coming on in the second half.

“Aiden (17) came on today for his debut, acquitted himself well and everyone is delighted for him. It was good to see Trent Ostler (16) come on and assisted with a goal late,” he explained.

“We must remain balanced, as we face many interesting challenges ahead, but our focus will be on details and processes as we individually and collectively look to continue the nice progression. It’s going to be tough.”

The Coach made one change to the side that beat Joondalup United last week, with Jack Leech coming into the side with Callum Timmins missing out, and it was one of the youngest sides Glory have selected in the NPL, with the average age of the squad just under 18-year-old.

It was a tight opening with both sides going close early. First defender Daniel Walsh headed over from a corner, before Jordan Hart shot straight at Glory custodian Jackson Lee.

But the speed and guile of the Glory strikers was causing the Forrestfield back foall sortsrts of problems and it wasn’t a surprise when they opened the scoring on the half hour.

Dau was found down the right and he eased past his marker and pulled the ball back to Domfeh, who made no mistake from close-range.

Then in the shadows of half time Glory added a vital second. They won a free kick on the edge of the penalty area and Hore stepped up and curled his strike around the wall into the bottom corner of the net giving Luke Martino no chance.

Forrestfield, who had won back-to-back games for the first time this season going into the game, hit back two minutes into the second half. American striker Sinclair raced forward and finished well past Lee to reduce the margin.

The visitors went close to levelling moments later when Glory failed to deal with a set-piece and in the goalmouth scramble, the ball fell to defender Wilbert Tshabangu, whose shot flashed just wide of the target.

But Glory began to reassert their dominance and it was rewarded when they increased their lead on the hour.

An attempted clearance by Martino was charged down by the alert Domfeh, the ball taking a wicked deflection and looping over the keeper and rolling into the empty net, much to the delight of the Glory players.

That seemed to knock the stuffing out of Forrestfield and Glory added a fourth five minutes later.

The lively Yacoub Mustafa was brought down in the penalty area and referee Joshua Nixon pointed straight to the spot, with Hore stepping up to score from the resulting penalty.

Glory weren’t finished there and it was 5-1 on 74 minutes. Second half substitute Bayley Brown-Montgomery found Dau, and he finished well.

There was still time for a sixth, as Brown-Montgomery this time played in Ostler, the youngsters scoring late put the icing on a fantastic performance from the side.

It was another successful day for the other academy teams, with the under 20’s beating Forrestfield 4-3, while the 18’s run out 3-1 winners.

Match Details

Perth Glory 6 (Domfeh 31’, 60’, Hore 45+1’, 65’ pen, Dau 74’, Ostler 89’)
Forrestfield United 1 (Sinclair 47’)
Half-time: 2-0

Referee: Joshua Nixon

Perth Glory: GK Jackson LEE, 2 Luke BODNAR, 3 Walter SCOTT, 4 Daniel WALSH, 5 Harry QUIGLEY, 6 Jack LEECH (12 Aidan EDWARDS 49’), 7 Chok DAU, 8 Henry HORE, 9 Michael DOMFEH (13 Bayley BROWN-MONTGOMERY 65’), 10 Michael MCDOUGALL, 11 Yacoub MUSTAFA (14. Trent OSTLER 80’)
Substitutes not used: RGK Nicholas SPECA, 15 Nic MCDONALD
Yellow cards: Nil
Forrestfield United: GK Luke MARTINO, 2 Tom SOUTHGATE, 3 Wilbert TSHABANGU, 5 Scott BARKER, 8 Mitchell CROCKER (12 Callum DOBBS 63’), 9 Hasani SINCLAIR, 10 Jordan HART (6 Kristian DESPOTOVSKI 76’), 11 Liam MERIGAN (C), 14 Antoine LEMARIE (4 Jamie DUNCAN 52’), 15 Jamie STREET, 23 Rhys LOXLEY
Substitutes not used: RGK Ben PARRY
Yellow cards: Nil

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