Perth Glory have recorded a third straight home win after they defeated Newcastle 3-2 at nib Stadium on Saturday night.
Perth Glory have recorded a third straight home win after they defeated Newcastle 3-2 at nib Stadium on Saturday night.
The win means Perth leapfrog Newcastle into third on the Hyundai A-League ladder, one point shy of Central Coast and behind Adelaide in second on goal difference.
Substitute Chris Harold drove home the winner for the home side in the 84th minute after Jets goalkeeper Mark Birighitti spilled a Glory corner.
Newcastle had opened the scoring in just the fifth minute from the first corner of the match when Josh Mitchell was left unmarked at the back post and his header landed in the lap of Tiago Calvano, who deflected home off his knee.
But Glory responded just five minutes later when Steve McGarry blasted an attempted Jets clearance into the bottom right hand corner of Birighitti’s goal from beyond 20 yards.
Perth took the lead in the 38th minute when Dean Heffernan’s header from a Scott Jamieson cross was deflected into the path of Nick Ward, who calmly slotted home.
Former Perth player Mitchell looked to have earned his team a point in the 70th minute when he toe-poked home an Emile Heskey knock down from a Scott Neville free kick past Daniel Vukovic.
The Newcastle set pieces caused the Perth defence trouble all night with both of the Jets’ goals coming as a result along with several more chances, which they failed to capitalise on.
Perth wasted several opportunities late in the first half to extend their lead.
First, Ward was inches away from scoring his second when he tipped on a Liam Miller cross to force a sharp save from Birighitti.
And Glory looked to have a third when Scott Jamieson put the ball in the back of the net shortly after as Perth cut Newcastle open down the left, only to be ruled offside.
Newcastle were not without their own chances to earn more from the game, notably marquee man Heskey, who missed a number of chances from close range that the big striker would normally expect to put away.
Perth 3 (McGarry 10, Ward 37, Harold 84)
Newcastle 2 (Calvano 5, Mitchell 70)
Crowd 9,293 at nib Stadium.
Bet365 Man of the match: Tiago Calvano
