The PGFC Academy First Team suffered their first defeat of the NPL WA campaign on Saturday as they went down 4-1 to Gwelup Croatia in their Round 3 clash at the Croatian Sporting Complex.
The two teams served upd four goals inside a frenetic opening 20 minutes, with Glory striking first as Bryce Bafford teed up Charlie Leech for the striker’s fourth goal in the last two games.
Five minutes later, however, Gwelup struck back as former Glory man Ndumba Makeche finished emphatically in a one-on-one situation and seconds later, Jon Stynes’ far-post header made it 2-1 to the hosts.
Daniel Stynes duly followed his brother onto the scoresheet to make it 3-1, taking advantage of some hesitant defending before rifling an angled shot into the net and just before the break, Makeche grabbed his second and the home side’s fourth when he capitalised upon a mistake by Sam Reilly in the Glory goal.
To their credit, Glory rallied in the second half and dominated possession for long periods, but were unable to find a way past Connor Campbell in the Gwelup goal.
In the day’s other games, meanwhile, the Under-18s continued their impressive form with a 4-2 win, while the Under-20s fought out their second high-scoring draw in as many weeks, finishing up locked at 3-3.
All the three teams return to NPL WA action on Saturday at 1620 Capital Stadium, Hartfield Park, Forrestfield, with the Under-18s getting things underway at 11am, followed by the Under-20s at 1pm and the First Team at 3pm.
Match Details
Gwelup Croatia 4 (Makeche 9′, 39′), J.Stynes 10′, D.Stynes 19′) Perth Glory 1 (Leech 4′)
Half-time: 4-1
Referee: Joshua Nixon
Gwelup Croatia: 1.Connor CAMPBELL (GK), 2.Ciaran SALINGER (4.Andrew SCALDAFERRO 71′), 5.Blair GOVAN (C), 6.Declan HARGREAVES, 8.Jon STYNES (77.Sean MCMANUS 67′), 10.Daniel STYNES (9.David HEAGNEY 50′), 11.Ndumba MAKECHE, 12.Hasani SINCLAIR, 12.Rocco PIZZATA, 14.Shubham MOKALA, 20.Sam MITCHINSON
Yellow Cards: Hargreaves
Red Cards: None
Perth Glory: 1.Sam REILLY (GK), 2.Mason TATAFU (15.Nick WALSH 20′), 4.Aidan COYNE, 5.Josh RAWLINS, 6.Aiki TSUKAMOTO (13.Lewis TUCKER 46′), 7.Joseph FORDE (20.Alessandro CIRCATI 20′), 8.Aidan EDWARDS, 10.Giordano COLLI (c), 11.Charlie LEECH, 17.Bryce BAFFORD, 20.Jack PAINTER-ANDREWS (14.Fraser DUNLOP 69′)
Yellow Cards: Colli
Red Cards: None
(pic courtesy of Tom McCarthy)
#OneGlory
