A debut goal from 19-year-old Joel Anasmo has fired Perth Glory to a 4-2 win over Melbourne City in a thriller at HBF Park.
The visitors took the lead in the 21st minute after an excellent cross from Tolgay Arslan was turned into his own net by Glory defender Aleksandar Susnjar.
Perth hit back on the stroke of half time with Mustafa Amini firing home from the spot after Nuno Reis had fouled Bruce Kamau but City restored their lead through Arslan in the 60th minute.
That goal then sparked 10 minutes of madness at HBF Park as Scott Galloway stabbed the ball past Jamie Young and into his own goal to make it 2-2 before Adam Taggart then scored what would prove to be the match winner in the 70th minute.
Debutant Joel Anasmo then put the icing on the cake for Glory, latching on to a precise pass from David Williams before dispatching the ball past Jamie Young to send the Perth fans into raptures.
The win for Alen Stajcic’s side is their second in the space of three games and pushes them eight points clear of bottom side Western United while Melbourne City suffer a third defeat in five matches.
The away side controlled the opening stages of the game and made the breakthrough in the 21st minute with the ever-influential Tolgay Arslan at the heart of the move.
Finding space out on City’s left, Arslan curled a delicious in-swinging ball into the box which was attacked by both Jamie Maclaren and Glory’s Aleksandar Susnjar, with the final touch coming off the Perth man before it nestled into the back of the net.
The home side then wasted a brilliant chance to pull level just two minutes later as former City man Stefan Colakovski shot straight at goalkeeper Jamie Young when baring down on goal.
Perth goalkeeper Oli Sail then produced a smart save to deny City a second in the 36th minute, palming away a Jamie Maclaren header after the City skipper latched on to Scott Galloway’s cross.
Colakovski then tried his luck once more, this time from the edge of the box, but Young was equal to the effort, diving low to his near post to deny the home side an equaliser.
However the Glory would go in level at the break after City defender Nuno Reis fouled Bruce Kamau inside the box, allowing teammate midfielder Mustafa Amini to cooly convert the resulting spotkick.
City were then inches away from re-taking the lead in the second half but winger Leo Natel was twice denied in the 58th minute, first by Oli Sail before then volleying the rebound back across goal and onto the far post.
However City took full advantage of some sloppy Perth defending a minute later as Jamie Maclaren latched onto a poor back pass from Giordano Colli and rounded keeper Oli Sail before laying the ball back to Tolgay Arslan who promptly fired into an empty net.
The home crowd weren’t silenced for long though and they were soon back on level terms. Collecting the ball on the right hand side substitute David Williams drove towards goal before whipping a fierce ball across the box which was stabbed towards his own goal by Scott Galloway, with Jamie Young unable to keep it out.
The Glory fans were then in dreamland in the 70th minute as Adam Taggart somehow latched on to Daniel Bennie’s powerful cross to steer the ball home from a tight angle to make it 3-2 to Perth.
With the game now swinging from end to end Oli Sail made an excellent save to thwart Maclaren from close-range before Arslan then rolled Susnjar inside the box but slammed his shot against the post in the 76th minute.
Having already brought on Jimmy Jeggo for his City debut Aurelio Vidmar turned to his bench once more, this time inserting Mathew Leckie into the contest as his side attempted to salvage something from the game but as they pushed forward Perth then landed the knockout blow.
With City caught high up the pitch David Williams sprang forward on the counter and released debutant Joel Anasmo through on goal and the 19-year-old did the rest, clinically slotting the ball past Jamie Young to seal a memorable win for Alen Stajcic’s side.
