With a sliding left-footed lunge, Perth Glory’s Brendon Santalab wrote himself into another chapter of Hyundai A-League history on Sunday evening.
The last meaningful action of the regular season, Santalab’s close-range strike – slid home after a pinpoint pass from Joel Chianese – brought up Glory’s 5-0 triumph over Wellington Phoenix, and with it set a new mark for ‘goals scored’ in a 27-game Hyundai A-League campaign.
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At an average of 3.13 goals per game, the net bulged 422 times over the course of the regular season.
The road to the record had begun at 8.08pm on the evening of Friday 19 October, when Adelaide United’s Scott Galloway curled home a 20-metre beauty against Sydney FC at Coopers Stadium to open the season’s scoring.
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Using Opta data, we look at how, where and when the avalanche of goals went in…
Most goals in a 27-game season
|
Season |
Games |
Goals |
Goals per Game |
|
2018/2019 |
135 |
422 |
3.13 |
|
2015/2016 |
135 |
421 |
3.12 |
|
2016/2017 |
135 |
409 |
3.03 |
|
2017/2018 |
135 |
408 |
3.02 |
|
2014/2015 |
135 |
401 |
2.97 |
(* 434 goals were scored in 2010/11 across 165 games, making a goals-per-game total of 2.63)
Most goals by a team in a season
Perth’s total of 56 on their Premiership-winning journey – impressive as it was – is only the fourth-highest total across a 27-game season, with Sydney FC’s 2017/18 vintage registering a whopping 64, Melbourne City tallying 63 in 2015/16 and Newcastle Jets notching 57 last time out.
|
Team |
Season |
Games |
Goals |
|
Sydney FC |
2017/2018 |
27 |
64 |
|
Melbourne City |
2015/2016 |
27 |
63 |
|
Brisbane Roar |
2010/2011 |
30 |
58 |
|
Newcastle Jets |
2017/2018 |
27 |
57 |
|
Perth Glory |
2018/2019 |
27 |
56 |
|
Melbourne Victory |
2014/2015 |
27 |
56 |
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Who topped the scorers’ chart?
With the regular season done and dusted, Phoenix’s Roy Krishna wrapped up the Golden Boot, with 18 goals to his credit, closely followed by Sydney FC’s Adam Le Fondre on 16, and Perth Glory’s Andy Keogh (15).
GOLDEN BOOT | 🥇🥾 #Nix striker, @RoyKrishna21 picks up the @ALeague golden boot after notching 18 goals in the regular season.
🔥 ON FIRE 🔥
Left foot – ⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️
Right foot – ⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️
Head – ⚽️Read more here 👉 https://t.co/l88ZdFvrLz#CreateHistory pic.twitter.com/O0No6TLT8e
— Wellington Phoenix 🔥 (@WgtnPhoenixFC) April 29, 2019
The Melbourne Victory pair of Kosta Barbarouses (14) and Ola Toivonen (13) make up the top five.
Krishna needed just 3.9 shots per goal to reach his tally, although Victory maestro Toivonen tops the ‘efficiency rating’, needing just 20 games – at an average of 3.3 shots per goal – to reach his total.
Shots per goal – top scorers
|
Player |
Team |
Games |
Total Shots (inc. blocks) |
Goals |
Shots per Goal |
|
Roy Krishna |
Wellington Phoenix |
26 |
70 |
18 |
3.9 |
|
Adam Le Fondre |
Sydney FC |
27 |
87 |
16 |
5.4 |
|
Andy Keogh |
Perth Glory |
26 |
71 |
15 |
4.7 |
|
Kosta Barbarouses |
Melbourne Victory |
27 |
75 |
14 |
5.4 |
|
Ola Toivonen |
Melbourne Victory |
20 |
43 |
13 |
3.3 |
|
David Williams |
Wellington Phoenix |
26 |
53 |
11 |
4.8 |
|
Craig Goodwin |
Adelaide United |
27 |
68 |
10 |
6.8 |
Shots per goal – team
Glory may have topped the season’s scoring charts, but it is Kevin Muscat’s attack-minded Melbourne Victory – led by Toivonen and Barbarouses – who made the most of their opportunities, racking up their 50 goals at a rate of one every 6.6 attempts.
Adelaide United, on the other hand, needed an average of 10.3 efforts for every successful strike.
|
Team |
Games |
Total Shots (inc. blocks) |
Goals |
Shots per Goal |
|
Melbourne Victory |
27 |
332 |
50 |
6.6 |
|
Perth Glory |
27 |
379 |
56 |
6.8 |
|
Wellington Phoenix |
27 |
354 |
46 |
7.7 |
|
Sydney FC |
27 |
375 |
43 |
8.7 |
|
Melbourne City |
27 |
355 |
39 |
9.1 |
|
Adelaide United |
27 |
381 |
37 |
10.3 |
What time the goals are scored – by team
The stats suggest that, perhaps not surprisingly, the top-three finishers in the Hyundai A-League are the teams that keep on pressing to the 90th minute and beyond.
Whether it’s superior fitness or unwavering focus, it is surely no coincidence that Perth Glory (15), Sydney FC (12) and Melbourne Victory (12) have all got into double figures in terms of goals scored in the final 15 minutes of matches.
Adelaide United (9) and Melbourne City (10) tend to finish the opening period strongly, while whatever is in the half-time tea at Phoenix is working: their deadliest spell (10) is in the first 15 minutes of the second half.
|
Team |
0-15 |
16-30 |
31-45 |
46-60 |
61-75 |
76-90 |
Total |
|
Adelaide Utd |
4 |
4 |
9 |
7 |
8 |
5 |
37 |
|
Melbourne City |
3 |
5 |
10 |
7 |
6 |
8 |
39 |
|
Melbourne Victory |
4 |
9 |
9 |
8 |
8 |
12 |
50 |
|
Perth Glory |
7 |
11 |
8 |
5 |
10 |
15 |
56 |
|
Sydney FC |
7 |
5 |
5 |
8 |
6 |
12 |
43 |
|
Wellington Phoenix |
8 |
7 |
8 |
10 |
6 |
7 |
46 |
Where the goals are scored – by team
They love a long-range screamer in the New Zealand capital and the sky blue half of Melbourne – no other teams in the top six have got anywhere close to the number of outside-the-box hits from Phoenix (10) and City (9).
|
Team |
Inside |
Outside |
Set-piece |
Penalty |
Total Goals |
|
Adelaide United |
31 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
37 |
|
Melbourne City |
27 |
9 |
0 |
3 |
39 |
|
Melbourne Victory |
39 |
3 |
2 |
6 |
50 |
|
Perth Glory |
47 |
3 |
0 |
6 |
56 |
|
Sydney FC |
33 |
5 |
1 |
4 |
43 |
|
Wellington Phoenix |
29 |
10 |
2 |
5 |
46 |
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