Perth Glory ended their 2015 PS4 National Premier League WA season on a high with a 3-0 win against Cockburn City at Dalmatinac Park.
The win, their third on teh trot, was a perfect preparation for the up-coming Foxtel National Youth League, with a brace from Nikola Talimdzioski and a late strike from Sam McKearnan.
Glory Coach John Gibson was delighted the way his young chargers ended the season.
“The whole group has been magnificent from day one and they deserve all the credit” he said.
“I would like to thank everyone involved in the NPL program for all their hard work this season”.
The coach said the improvement in performances was a great achievement and to win the last three games was just rewards for the players.
“We just wanted to get better, and I believe we have achieved that, particularly in the back end of the season,” Gibson said.
“All season it has been about us improving, and being seriously competitive which was our main goal – which we know we have achieved.”
“The program now switches into Foxtel NYL mode, a very different challenge but the PS4 FW NPL has been a fantastic building block for the playing group – and puts us in a good space for the upcoming Foxtel NYL Competition”.
The performance of keeper Jordan Franken was outstanding, he made a number of crucial saves at important times of the game, but he was delighted with back-to-back clean sheets.
“The win and the performance was the perfect way to end the season, and to keep a clean sheet was another bonus,” he said.
After back to back wins, Glory went into the game unchanged, and were out of the blocks early.
Their early pressure was rewarded on the quarter hour with the lead.
Talimdzioski’s pace took him clear of the Cockburn offside trap, and he finished clinically past Jack Adams.
Glory custodian Franken came to the team’s rescue before the break.
The league’s joint top scorer Rory Patterson won possession, and found himself one-on-one with the keeper, but Franken stood tall and the former Northern Ireland international fired wide.
Glory started to get on top, and almost doubled its lead mid-way through the half.
Calvin Whitney was given space on the edge of the penalty area, and his powerful shot whistled inches past the post.
In the shadows of half time Franken was at it again. Patterson nipped in after good approach work, but the Glory keeper was off his line in a flash to smother the striker’s low shot.
The home side started the second half well, but couldn’t break down a well-drilled Glory side, and they were caught out again on a quick counter attack on 57 minutes.
Slobodan Vulin played a great through ball to Talimdzioski, who made no mistake, firing across Adams to double the Glory’s lead.
Franken was in sparkling form, as Cockburn looked to get back in the game, and he produced three stunning saves to thwart the home side, the best denying Patterson his 21st goal of the season.
Glory had their chances too. Dejan Spaseski played the ball out to Talimdzioski on the right, and the midfielder continued his run into the box. When the ball was delivered into the penalty area he was on the end of it, but Jack Adams was alert to save.
But with Cockburn pushing men forward in stoppage time the points were wrapped up.
Second half substitute Walieden Ismail’s mazy run ended with a cross to McKernan who made no mistake.
City coach and former Perth Glory midfielder Marc Anthony was impressed with the way the Glory youngsters went about their work.
“I thought they (Glory) were fantastic today,” he said.
“They set the tone early in the first half and went on with it”.
In other results Glory’s U-18s smashed City 5-0 while Bobby Despotivski’s U-20s thumped Cockburn 9-1 to take out the league title.
MATCH DETAILS
Cockburn City 0
Perth Glory 3 (Talimdzioski 15’, 57’, McKearnan 90+1’)
Saturday September 5 2015
Dalmatinac Park, Spearwood
Referee: Josh Mannella
Cockburn City: GK Jack ADAMS, 3 Jonathan CORNESS, 4 Euen GRANT (9 Liam MURRAY 78’), 5 Alan CARROLL, 8 David ARAYA (12 Feisal ZAW 62’) 10 Rory PATTERSON, 11 Devon GIBSON, 13 Blake ADAMS (2 Josh KUSER 78’), 14 Conor KAVANAGH, 15 Harry O’BRIEN, 17 Eamon MCNELIS
Subs not used: RGK Eric CUTRI, 16 Julian TELES
Yellow Cards: Patterson 65’, Carroll 86’
Perth Glory: GK Jordan FRANKEN, 2 Gian ALBANO (12 Walieden ISMAIL 57’), 3 Ross MILLARD, 4 Nathan COSTELLO, 5 Ali GHOLAMI, 6 Jacob COLLARD, 7 Calvin WHITNEY, 8 Dejan SPASESKI, 9 Stefan VALENTINI (13 Matthew NTOUMENOPOULOS 89’), 10 Slobodan VULIN (17 Sam MCKEARNAN 78’), 11 Nikola TALIMDZIOSKI
Subs not used: RGK Jordan YOUNG
Yellow Cards: Nil
