Perth Glory have won their fourth game in five starts with a 3-1 victory over Western Sydney Wanderers at Sam Kerr Football Centre.
Emma Tovar, Susan Phonsongkham and Ella Lincoln all got on the scoresheet for the Glory with long range strikes, while Yuan Cong’s close range finish in the 75th minute briefly gave the Wanderers hope of at getting a point.
Perth were efficient rather than dominant, with their three goals coming from just four shots on target and an xG of 0.86.
Izzy Dalton set up Tovar in to open the scoring in the 29th minute by chopping off a Wanderers attempt to get out their own area, and then slipping the American into space.
Tovar was afforded too much space on the edge of the area and took advantage by belting an unstoppable effort past Sham Khamis in the Wanderers’ net.
Phonsongkham cracked home a quality free kick from the edge of the area in the 44th minute, stepping up after a marauding run by Sarah O’Donoghue was ended when she was brought down Amy Harrison.
The two goals meant the Glory went into half time deserving leaders.
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Western Sydney came out strong in the second half though, and when Yuan tapped in Ella Buchanan’s effort that slid across goal in the 75th minute it was no less than they deserved.
Their hopes of procuring a point were dashed inside 10 minutes however, with Ella Lincoln taking advantage of the Wanderers failing to clear their lines to shimmy herself into space and place the ball into the bottom right corner across herself with her left foot.
Her backflips were as memorable as the goal, bringing to mind the stadium’s namesake who pulled off so much gymnastics of her in the Perth purple.
The win puts the Glory up to fourth on the Ninja A-League table, a point behind the two Melbourne clubs and three behind Canberra.
Perth next travel to take on Central Coast Mariners at polytec Stadium.
On the other side of the equation the Wanderers still languish last on the ladder, with just one win from their 10 games.
Western Sydney take on Brisbane Roar at Wanderers Football Park next Friday night.
