Perth Glory and Wellington Phoenix are both back to winning form in pre-season after clean sheets secured confidence-boosting friendly victories.
Tony Popovic’s side enjoyed a particularly pleasing run out on Wednesday night as they eased past WA State League Division 1 champions Rockingham City 7-0.
Key striker Andy Keogh marked his return from a long-term ankle injury with the second of two first-half goals, Chris Harold having opened the scoring in the eighth minute.
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It became a rout after the interval thanks in large part to substitute Yagoub Mustafa, the young forward hitting an 11-minute hat-trick before Michael Domfeh and Zayd Farah wrapped up the scoring late in proceedings.
Glory boss Tony Popovic was delighted for Keogh to make a successful comeback after nine weeks on the sideline.
“He’s worked so hard. He deserved a goal today,” Popovic said. “Obviously he needs minutes, he needs training time.
“He’s probably two or three weeks ahead of schedule, so that’s a credit to him and how hard he’s worked.”
Popa's Rockingham reflections…
Glory's Head Coach discusses Wednesday's friendly win at Lark Hill.@ALeague #OneGlory pic.twitter.com/rXcDM6A8ia— Perth Glory FC (@PerthGloryFC) September 26, 2018
Krishna fires for Phoenix
Wellington’s own star striker was also on song 24 hours earlier in a 3-0 defeat of NPL New South Wales double winners Sydney Olympic.
Roy Krishna, scorer of 32 goals in his Hyundai A-League career, grabbed a brace in the behind-closed-doors encounter.
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New Zealand international Louis Fenton notched the other in a sign that Mark Rudan’s plan is coming together ahead of the new season.
Phoenix, beaten 1-0 by Western Sydney Wanderers last weekend, conclude their three-match tour of NSW against Sydney FC later this week.
