Jason Davidson, Diego Castro, Jake Brimmer, Yagoub Mustafa and Chris Harold all found the net as Glory continued their pre-season preparations with a resounding 5-2 win over the WA State Team at a rain and wind-lashed Perth Plasterboard Centre Stadium in Inglewood on Wednesday night.
In what was their final hit-out before next week’s FFA Cup clash against Melbourne Victory, Glory boss Tony Popovic again went with his 3-4-2-1 formation.
READ: City recruit ready for first serious hit-out against Roar
TRANSFER NEWS: Duncan joins ex-Victory defender in Saudi Arabia
And it looked fluent going forward, with Mustafa and Castro’s movement behind lone striker Harold causing plenty of headaches for Jamie Harnwell’s men.
Davidson – playing in a left wing-back role, claimed the opening goal before Castro’s acrobatic effort made it 2-0 and a stunning free-kick from Brimmer completed the first-half scoring.
Mustafa then capped a lively display by crashing home Glory’s fourth just short of the hour-mark and moments later, Davidson teed up Harold for number five.
In the latter stages, WA hit back twice to reduce the arrears, Chris Saldaris’ fierce, angled strike from just outside the box followed by Hasani Sinclair’s header on the stroke of full-time.
Glory down WA State Team on a wet and windy night at Inglewood…👍#OneGlory pic.twitter.com/9m1HinajK9
— Perth Glory FC (@PerthGloryFC) August 1, 2018
The scoring started on just seven minutes and Joal Chianese was the provider, racing away down the right before crossing to the far post where Davidson was on hand to rifle home his first goal for the club from close-range.
Chianese then claimed another assist six minutes later, again delivering from the right and finding Castro whose scissor-kick just crept over the line despite the best efforts of defender David Stokoe.
The WA State team had some promising moments but were undone again shortly before the break when Brimmer fired home a superb free-kick which crashed off the underside of the bar on its way into the net.
Popovic opted to make five changes at the start of the second half, introducing Daniel Stynes, Scott Neville, Walter Scott, Neil Kilkenny and Zayd Farah and it was the latter who made an immediate impact, somehow managing to clear off the line after Hasani Sinclair’s shot had beaten Tando Velaphi.
Glory’s response to that let-off was to bag two quickfire goals, Mustafa finding the bottom corner following fine approach work from Stynes and Davidson then surging forward down the left before squaring for Harold who applied an emphatic finish.
After Popovic made a second raft of substitutions with 20 minutes left, Ivan Franjic, Brendon Santalab, Fabio Ferreira, Brandon Wilson, Jackson Lee and Henry Hore all being introduced, the State Team pulled one back through Saldaris who powered an unstoppable, 20-yard strike past Velaphi.
Sinclair’s header secured more in the way of consolation for WA, but moments later, stand-in Glory skipper Scott Neville had his hands on the Gold Fields Challenge Cup.
MATCH DETAILS
WA State Team 2 (Saldaris 79′, Sinclair 90+1′) Perth Glory 5 (Davidson 7′, Castro 13′, Brimmer 40′, Mustafa 59′, Harold 63′)
WA State Team: 1.James MORGAN, 2.Alex ISHIDA-LIVINGS (4.Chris SALDARIS 46′), 3.Johnny CHALMERS (13.Callum O’ÇONNELL 46′), 5.David STOKOE (14.Rocco PIZZATA 46′), 6.Cameron EDWARDS (16.David PERICH 46′), 7.Scott WITSCHGE (12.Jonathan CORNESS 46′), 8.Daryl NICOL (27.Benny KOUAKOU 46′), 9.Alex SALMON (11.Hasani SINCLAIR 46′), 10.Calvin WHITNEY, 15.Tom SOUTHGATE, 28.Paul ZIMARINO
Substitutes not used: 20.Luke RADONICH, 26.Gian ALBANO
Perth Glory: 1.Tando VELAPHI, 2.Alex GRANT (18.Walter SCOTT 46′), 3.Jason DAVIDSON (5.Ivan FRANJIC 70′), 4.Shane LOWRY (10.Zayd FARAH 46′), 6.Dino DJULBIC (23.Scott NEVILLE 46′), 7.Joel CHIANESE (21.Jacob ITALIANO 70”), 9.Yagoub MUSTAFA (22.Fabio FERREIRA 70′), 14.Chris HAROLD (11.Brendon SANTALAB 70′), 17.Diego CASTRO (25.Daniel STYNES 46′), 20.Jake BRIMMER (15.Brandon WILSON 70′), 27.Juande (88.Neil KILKENNY 46′)
Substitutes not used: 19.Trent OSTLER