An Anthony Skorich hat-trick and an Adrian Trinidad brace has helped Perth to a strong 5-2 win over the bottom-placed Newcastle Jets in their National Youth League match at Adamstown Oval, Newcastle on Saturday morning.
Skorich and Trinidad ran riot in the first half grabbing two goals each to give the Glory a dominate 4-0 lead at half-time. Newcastle fought back in the second half to bring the score back to 4-2 before Skorich snared his third goal in the 89th minute to give seal an impressive victory for the visitors.
The win puts Perth’s season back on track after going down 2-0 to Melbourne last week. The West Australian side now sits in fourth place on 20 points, five behind the second-placed Roar and two points adrift of Adelaide while the Jets remain outright last.
The match started in mild and overcast conditions at the picturesque Adamstown Oval and it was Perth who dominated the early exchanges. The visitors seemed to penetrate easily in attack and their forwards, led by Trinidad put plenty of pressure on the Jets when they tried to bring the ball out of their back third.
The pressure eventually told in the 26th minute when Skorich managed to break free of his defender and head home Howard Fondyke’s corner from six-yards out.
Trinidad made it 2-0 minutes later when he dispossessed Newcastle defender Joel Whitherdin and lobbed a spectacular ball over the head of Jets goalkeeper Justin Pasfield from 25 yards out.
The Glory looked like they may grab a third goal just moments later when Pasfield came out of area to try to win the ball ahead of Skorich. The Perth striker got there first and Pasfield was shown a yellow when he brought down Skorich in a clumsy challenge.
Skorich had his revenge just five minutes later when he beat Whitherdin to a loose ball and sprinted into the penalty area where he calmly squeezed a shot past Pasfield, off the right post and into the corner of the net.
Perth had all the momentum and added a fourth goal when Ludovic Boi sent a dangerous cross into the penalty box where an unmarked Trinidad effortlessly headed in his second goal.
Skorich almost made it five when took advantage of another mix-up in the Newcastle defence only to fire his shot straight at Pasfield, but Perth still held a significant 4-0 lead at half-time.
Perth continued to apply the pressure in opening stages of the second half. Fondyke forced Pasfield to tip a venomous 20-yard free-kick over the bar before Trinidad narrowly headed wide from the ensuing corner. Defender Steven Hesketh then saw his low long-range effort saved by Pasfield.
With a raft of replacements midway through the second half the Jets fought their way back into the match. Fabian Iacovelli, who had impressed with his pace down the wing for Newcastle, fired a lovely through ball for Ben Martin, who slotted the ball past Perth custodian Alex Pearson and into the corner of the net.
Newcastle grabbed another one just moments later when Iacovelli broke free down the right before veering into the penalty box and unleashing a strong left-footed shot that was parried away by Pearson. Jets substitute Patrick Wheeler was on hand to volley the follow-up ball into an open goal to make it 4-2 in the 77th minute.
Newcastle continued to attack with Iacovelli and Martin only denied by scrambling defence from the visitors as the clock conspired to diminish the home side-s comeback.
Perth sealed the game in the final minute of regular time with Skorich picking up his hat-trick when he turned in Boi’s corner in-front of a stagnant Jets defence.
Perth will be looking at inching closer to a top-two spot when they take on Queensland in Brisbane next round while the Jets will be looking for an upset when they face top-of-the-table Sydney.
Match Details
Newcastle Jets 2 (Ben Martin 71-, Patrick Wheeler 77-)
Perth Glory 5 (Anthony Skorich 26-/35-/89-, Adrian Trinidad 28-/37-)
Adamstown Oval, Newcastle
Saturday 17 January 2009
Referee: Stuart Wolfe
Assistant Referees: Michael Amloh, Nathan Magill
Fourth Official: Tim McGilchrist
Newcastle Jets line-up: 1.Justin PASFIELD (OA) (gk), 2.Jacob PEPPER, 4.Joel WITHERDIN, 5.George STROGYLOS, 6.Shaun ONTONG, 7.Fabian IACOVELLI (13.Patrick WHEELER 59-), 8.Matt HARPER, 9.Ben MARTIN, 10.Adrian KARAKOLEVSKI, 11.Simon MOONEY (15.Harry MAGUIRE 57-), 12.Matthew COMERFORD (14.Dylan MURPHY 57-)
Substitutes not used: Nil
Yellow cards: Justin Pasfield 30-, Joel Witherdin 55-, Dylan Murphy 82-, Shaun Ontong 90-
Red Cards: Nil
Perth Glory line-up: 1.Alex Pearson (gk), 5.Steven Hesketh, 6.Dean Evans (12.Reece Vittiglia 59-), 7.James Sammut (22.Jack Clisby 57-), 8.Howard Fondyke, 9.Anthony Skorich, 10.Adam Luca (7.James Sammut 65-), 11.Ludovic Boi, 13.Ryan Pearson, 14.Adrian TRINIDAD (OA) (16.Million Butshire 61-), 15.Joshua Risdon
Substitutes not used: Nil
Yellow cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
