Favourite son Richard Garcia slammed home his first goal for the season in the 12th minute, before Nebojsa Marinkovic scored another stunner four minutes before full time, to give Perth Glory FC a 2-0 win over Newcastle Jets at nib Stadium on Friday night.
Perth Glory FC was rarely challenged by the winless Jets, who racked up their sixth loss of the season, while Glory recorded its eighth win of the season, and fifth consecutive win at home
In the 11th minute, a Glory counter attack proved lethal with Richard Garcia burying the first real chance of the game. After some classy build up play from Glory, Mitch Nichols attempted to swing a cross to the left into the path of Danny De Silva. Former Glory man and current Newcastle right back, Scott Neville, blocked the cross which fell kindly to Garcia who made no mistake from the edge of the six yard box, scoring his first goal in Perth Glory colours.
The game hit a lull after the goal and although was open ended, neither team was able to maintain possession for long enough to make any meaningful moves.
The second half resumed in the same vein as the first, with both sides battling for midfield supremacy.
Carney was again lively for the visitors, and at the 53rd minute found himself one-on-one with Vukovic. The Perth custodian charged out and Carney blazed his shot into the stands much to the delight of the Perth Glory fans. That would be the Jets’ best chance of the night.
In the 76th minute, Irishman Andy Keogh almost made his mark on the game after a clever run down the right but smashed his shot wide of the near post.
With the Jets pressing late, their chances of taking anything from nib Stadium took a huge dent when Jaliens was given his marching orders by referee Kris Griffiths-Jones in the 82nd minute for a horror tackle on Scott Jamieson, who luckily walked away unhurt.
It only took four minutes for Glory to assert its numerical advantage, when a surging run from Jamie Maclaren coupled with some neat link up play with Keogh, allowed Nebojsa Marinkovic to rifle through a stunning shot that gave Jets keeper Ben Kennedy no chance. The goal was Marinkovic’s second league goal for the season.
Perth Glory FC continued to threaten on several occasions in the dying minutes, with Keogh coming closest when he attempted to chip Kennedy.The ball was cleared to saftey in the nick of time by Sam Gallagher. Maclaren had a chance to add a third for Glory when he found himself in the box but fired low and wide past the post.
At the final whistle the Glory fans erupted knowing their team was for the sixth week in a row at the top of the league.
Coach Kenny Lowe said he was satisfied with the performance from his team.
“I’m happy with the performance. We won,” Lowe said.
“We started like a house on fire but they got back in the game.”
Lowe refused to speculate about the red card handed to Jets’ Skipper Kew Jaliens, and was quick to assure fans that Scott Jamieson would be available for Tuesday evening Westfield FFA Cup final.
“Jamo’s alright. The ref dealt with it and we don’t want to go there again.”
Lowe said apart from the unavailability of Youssouf Hersi (hamstring – season) and Diogo Ferreira (TBA), he has a full squad to choose from when the team travels to South Australia on Tuesday to play Adelaide United in the inaugural Westfield FFA Cup Final.
Adelaide will be looking to bounce back after losing this week’s league fixture against reigning champions Brisbane Roar 1-0.
Perth return to nib Stadium for the round 11 clash against the Central Coast Mariners on December 20. Tickets are still available here.
Match Details
GOAL SCORERS: Richard GARCIA 11’, Nebosja MARINKOVIC 86’
YELLOW CARDS: Andrew HOOLE 63’, Scott NEVILLE 74’
RED CARD: Kew JALIENS 82’
ATTENDANCE: 9716
SQUADS:
PERTH GLORY FC: 1.Danny VUKOVIC (gk), 5.Rostyn GRIFFITHS, 6.Dino DJULBIC, 9.Andy KEOGH, 10.Nebojsa MARINKOVIC, 11.Richard GARCIA (15.Jamie MACLAREN 83’), 17.Mitch NICHOLS (8.Ruben ZADKOVICH 73’), 19.Joshua RISDON, 20.Daniel DE SILVA (16. Sidnei SCIOLA 68’), 21.Scott JAMIESON, 23.Michael THWAITE (c)
SUBS NOT USED: 14.Chris HAROLD, 30. Jordan THURTELL (gk)
COACH: Kenny LOWE
NEWCASTLE JETS: 2.Scott NEVILLE, 4.Kew JALIENS (c), 5.Ben KANTAROVSKI (19.Mitch COOPER 61’), 6.Adrian MADASCHI, 8.Zenon CARAVELLA, 9.Joel GRIFFITHS (7.Jeronimo NEUMANN 77’), 11.Andrew HOOLE, 12.Sam GALLAGHER, 16.Jacob PEPPER (13.Edson MONTANO 70’), 20.Ben KENNEDY (gk), 23.David CARNEY
SUBS NOT USED: 1.Mark BIRIGHITTI (gk), 21.Sam GALLAWAY
COACH: Phil STUBBINS
MATCH OFFICIALS:
Referee: Kris Griffiths-Jones
Assistant Referees: Josh Mannella & Tim Mihevc
Fourth Official: Adam Fielding
