Friday night’s clash between Perth and Central Coast could see the 200th Hyundai A-League goal scored at nib Stadium.
Friday night’s clash between Perth and Central Coast could see the 200th Hyundai A-League goal scored at nib Stadium.
Currently, Mate Dugandzic’s late winner for Melbourne Heart last weekend was the 197th goal at the inner-city venue, although it’s probably one Glory fans are trying to forget. But with both sides boasting plenty of goal-scoring potential, the odds of the 200th coming up before Christmas are pretty good.
As for us, 200 goals was a great excuse to get out of real work and crank up Youtube to watch some of the more memorable nib Stadium goals. And, with Perth Glory games record holder and current Westfield W-League coach, Jamie Harnwell, kindly helping out, here’s what we came up with:
Noel Spencer – Central Coast Mariners
The first goal at nib Stadium, then known as Members Equity Stadium, set a standard that’s proved hard to beat. It was the very first round of the new Hyundai A-League and former NSL powerhouse Perth Glory were taking on Central Coast as they will again on Friday night.
But Glory fans expecting normal NSL service to simply resume were in for a shock as Mariners skipper Noel Spencer produced a 40-metre rocket in the 66th minute to win the match 1-0. Cutting in from the left byline, Spencer smashed his shot into the very top right-hand corner with a goal many believe is the competition’s best ever.
“I remember that goal,” said Jamie Harnwell ruefully. “Just a long-range screamer! I think it just sort of whistled past the top of my head and into the top corner and I looked back at (goalkeeper) Jason Petkovic and we just sort of both looked at each other and went, ‘well, not much we can do about that unfortunately’.”
Brian Deane
Back in 1992, Brian Deane was the first person to score in the new English Premier League competition as he nodded home for Sheffield United against Manchester United. Fast forward to 2005 and Deane was a rapidly fading force.
Deane still currently holds the record as Glory’s oldest Hyundai A-League player at 37 years and 258 days and also holds the record for oldest scorer, having found the back of the net at nib Stadium in a 2-1 win over Melbourne Victory back in October 2005. It was his only Glory goal and injury forced him into retirement soon after.
Nikita Rukavytsya
Rukavytsya is the local product made good. The young striker from Perth SC worked his way into Ron Smith’s side during the 2007-08 season and finished with a bang.
His 2010 World Cup in South Africa may not have been too flash, but Glory fans will remember his superb trademark running goal in a 3-2 win over Adelaide United in January 2008.
“This goal sort of just announced he was on the scene and what he was all about,” said Harnwell.
“I think it was just a long ball out of defence. I flicked on towards the touchline and Nikita blew off two or three defenders with his just sheer pace on the halfway line and did it really well. Everyone stood up and took notice, (saying) ‘hang on this kid has got something a little bit special’.”
Jamie Harnwell
Over the years Harnwell scored more than his fair share of goals at nib Stadium before retiring in February 2011. His two favourites are ones that had an emotional resonance.
The first of these occurred in early 2007-08 when, after a run of three goalless draws to open the season, Harnwell produced a brilliant 14th-minute goal in what was eventually a 2-1 loss to Queensland Roar.
“Just the emotion of that goal and how it all came together that day, even though we ended up losing, definitely sticks in my mind,” Harnwell said.
Late in December 2009, Harnwell also produced a scuffed finish in the 78th minute to secure a 1-1 draw against Brisbane following a terrible campaign to that point with injury.
“I’d missed a large part of the season and just got thrown on by Dave Mitchell with 15, 20 minutes to go and wasn’t fully fit and still hobbling a bit,” he explained.
“But, yeah, just managed to scramble in an equaliser and again the emotion in that came out, jumping on the fence and getting into the crowd and stuff, yeah, it’s certainly something that I’ll never forget.”
Eugene Dadi
This goal from August 2008 was more a team goal than anything else, but was still a spectacular moment. In a see-sawing clash with then reigning premiers Newcastle that ended 3-3, Glory equalised at 2-2 through a towering Eugene Dadi header.
Scott Bulloch started the move, picking out Amaral in the right corner, with the Brazilian producing a pin-point volleyed cross for Dadi to glance a powerful header past Ante Covic.
“It was a great finish,” declared then coach Dave Mitchell after the game. “I think you’d see that in the Premier League. Tonight, people talk about the A-League (for) it was great, a great advert for the A-League tonight and hopefully the fans saw that.”
It was the first of 10 goals Dadi scored although another memorable one was a 92nd-minute penalty in a 2-2 draw, again with Newcastle. The late equaliser was enough for under-fire Jets coach Gary van Egmond to rush onto the field and physically accuse Adrian Trinidad of diving to earn the spot-kick. But Dadi will probably be best remembered for an infamous penalty miss in January 2010 while playing for Wellington.
Having fallen out with Mitchell, Dadi was at Wellington and wanted to show up his old coach with a cheeky chipped penalty. Needless to say it didn’t work.
Adriano Pellegrino
Now at the Mariners, Pellegrino holds the record for Glory consecutive games at 46 and was the Most Glorious Player in 2008-09. His crowning moment was a stunning finish against Melbourne Victory in early December 2008.
Humbled 4-0 by Ernie Merrick’s men earlier that season, the Glory had found their feet and this 3-1 victory kept them in the finals hunt at the time. Perth had gone two goals ahead but Ney Fabiano pulled one back and Victory looked like levelling before first-year player Pellegrino smashed home his 30-metre finish.
“(I’ve) just grown in confidence,” said Pellegrino, a few days after scoring the goal. “That’s how the goal came about, you get more confidence, you stick your head up and have a hit.”
Alex Terra
Perth Glory didn’t have much luck in 2010-11. Just when it looked like they were getting the season back on track around Christmas last season, they were stunned during mid-January in a 1-1 draw with Melbourne Heart. Having taken the lead, Glory looked a good chance of winning before Terra produced a stunning bicycle kick in the 70th minute.
Facing away from goal, the Heart forward latched onto Gerald Sibon’s header across the area, flicking it up with his foot and then finishing with a bicycle kick that even Glory fans applauded.
“You can’t go past Terra from last year,” Harnwell said. “Whether he meant to control the ball or bounce it up in the air that high, only he will know, but regardless of whether he meant to or not, it was pretty hard to finish. It was a superb finish and it was just one of those goals you put your hand up as a defender and say there’s nothing we can do about that one.”
