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The Roar

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Glory thrash Mariners 4-1 in Perth

20th December, 2014
28

Rising star Danny De Silva nailed a 25-yard wonder goal and Chris Harold scored a brace to lift Perth Glory to a 4-1 win over Central Coast in Saturday night’s A-League clash at nib Stadium.

With the Glory clinging to a 2-1 lead, De Silva latched onto Harold’s lob pass, tapped the ball up to himself while backing into a defender, before burying the roundhouse volley to the joy of the 9660 fans.

Harold sealed the win with his second goal of the match in the 78th minute, with Glory now six points clear on top of the table after Melbourne Victory lost 1-0 to Melbourne City earlier in the night.

In contrast, the Mariners are languishing in eighth spot after their winless streak stretched to 10 games.

In another blow to the Mariners, defender Michael Neill limped off in the first half with what appeared to be a painful leg injury.

Glory were also left with an injury concern after winger Sidnei came off to ice his left calf – an injury that ruled him out of the early part of the season.

Although De Silva produced the highlight of the night, Harold was the main destroyer after playing a part in all four goals despite injuring his left elbow early.

Against the run of play in the 33rd minute, Andy Keogh produced a mid-air, back-heel volley to release Sidnei, who squared the ball for Harold to score with an easy tap-in.

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Then two minutes later, Perth were gifted their second courtesy of a terrible clearance from Mariners goalkeeper Reddy.

Harold intercepted Reddy’s wayward pass, before Keogh finished off the passage of play with his seventh goal of the season.

Reddy made up for his mistake with a brilliant save to deny Keogh in the 42nd minute, and the Mariners pulled a goal back just after half-time when Matt Simon sneaked an angled shot past Danny Vukovic.

But De Silva, who will join Italian giants AS Roma at the end of the season, put the game to bed with his piece of magic.

Glory entered the match after enduring a dramatic week.

Shortly after losing Tuesday’s FFA Cup final to Adelaide, Glory were accused in media reports of rorting the salary cap over the previous three seasons.

Football Federation Australia have since launched an investigation and Glory certainly played like a side under siege in the first 30 minutes before finding their feet.

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In a bit of light-hearted banter, Glory sent out a tweet after Keogh’s goal stating: “Just to confirm – Andy Keogh is currently outscoring the @CCMariners whole team for Season 10.”

In reply, the Mariners tweeted back: “Can you please confirm that Andy Keogh is correctly in the salary cap?”

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