Western Sydney Wanderers have extinguished Perth Glory’s Westfield W-League finals hopes, winning a seven goal thriller 4-3 win at nib Stadium on Sunday night.
The Wanderers scored twice through Rachel Lowe and Ellie Brush in the opening four minutes to take a surprise 2-0 lead before a brace to Glory skipper Sam Kerr and another to American import Rachel Hill put the home side ahead with 12 minutes to play.
And despite the Wanderers missing a penalty five minutes from time through Brush, they still found a way to snatch an incredible victory.
Substitute Olivia Price and winger Erica Halloway each scored within three frantic minutes to claim a memorable win in front of 1,852 stunned Perth fans.
Glory was an outside chance of qualifying for the finals with a win on Sunday night, pending other results in next weekend’s final round.
Lowe handed the Wanderers the best possible start with a long-range strike which had both Glory players and fans in shock before the clock had ticked into the second minute.
Brush doubled the visitors’ lead three minutes later when she swooped on a loose ball which had been spilled by Glory goalkeeper Melissa Maizels during an attempted clearance.
Glory midfielders Nikki Stanton and Raquel Rodriguez went agonisingly close to scoring early in the second half before Kerr struck with her first of the night when she was first played over the top by Nicola Bolger.
Kerr squared the ledger for Glory just past the hour mark after teaming with substitute Marianna Tabain before Hill edged the home side ahead in the 78th minute when flicked on by Kerr.
And at that point it appeared Glory was poised to pull of an unlikely comeback win, especially when Brush was denied from the spot with five to go.
But the visitors refused to go away and scored twice through a deflection off Price and then in the 90th minute when Halloway scored at the back post following a dangerous run from Lowe.
“It was a game for the spectators, that’s for sure,” Western Sydney coach Richard Byrne said.
“I’ll take the result, but I thought both teams could have won tonight.
“I’m very proud of the way a young team of local girls managed to pull things back after going 2-0 up, then 3-2 down and missing a penalty, but still believing they could win the game.”
