Fulham striker Erik Nevland grabbed a hat-trick in the space of eight minutes as Perth Glory crashed to a demoralising 5-0 defeat in front of 14,903 fans at Members Equity Stadium in Perth on Wednesday night.
Former England striker Andrew Johnson opened the scoring in the 16th minute in a drab first half before Nevland, who came on after the break, sparked much-needed life into the contest with a blistering burst of goals.
Edward Johnson’s cross set up Nevland for his first in the 60th minute and the 31-year-old had his second just four minutes later with a neat strike off the outside off his right boot from just inside the box.
And the hat-trick was complete in the 68th minute when Nevland expertly chipped the ball over charging Perth goalkeeper Aleks Vrteski.
Former Melbourne midfielder Adrian Leijer, who came on in the 70th minute, helped complete the rout with a great through-ball to Andranik, who drilled the ball past Vrteski for his team’s fifth in the 83rd minute.
Socceroos goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, who played the first half before being substituted at halftime, didn’t have to make a save as Glory’s strike duo of Eugene Dadi and Mile Sterjovski struggled to create any chances.
In contrast, Fulham striker Bobby Zamora, who could be on his way to Hull in a $A10.25 million transfer, and Andrew Johnson threatened time and again in the first 45 minutes but were well held by Perth’s back four of Jamie Coyne, Andy Todd, Jamie Harnwell and Scott Neville.
The Glory, missing Socceroos Jacob Burns and Chris Coyne, struggled for fluency in the first half but it was a different story immediately after the break.
But Wayne Srhoj and Harnwell missed golden chances to level the scores.
Perth were made to pay dearly as Fulham substitutes Edward Johnson and Nevland ripped the game wide open with several dazzling pieces of interplay as Glory’s defence imploded under the pressure.
It was Fulham’s second win of their pre-season tour of Australia, with their only blight a 2-1 loss to Gold Coast.
“They looked like they put their foot down in the second half and really came at us,” Glory coach Dave Mitchell said.
“They’re a quality side.
“They just showed us how to close down well as a unit, as a team. They were really well organised and they caused us problems.
“For long periods of the game I was happy. Obviously once they scored one or two goals our heads dropped a bit.”
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