Perth Glory have extended their hot A-League form and intensified the misery for the Central Coast Mariners, making the most of a two-man advantage to post a 4-0 win at nib Stadium.
Glory jump to fifth position ahead of Melbourne Victory, having won seven of their last eight matches.
Saturday night’s victory was built on the back of penalties to Diego Castro (fourth minute) and Andy Keogh (67th), and headers by Keogh (53rd) and Chris Harold (94th).
Either side of Keogh’s first goal saw Mitchell Austin and superstar Spaniard Luis Garcia receive second yellow cards to leave the Mariners with nine men for the bulk of the second half.
The result was a sixth straight defeat for a Mariners team now guaranteed the wooden spoon.
It took Glory four minutes to get on the board after Tomislav Uskok made a clumsy challenge in the air on Harold. Castro scored from the spot for his 11th goal of the campaign.
Glory threatened a second before halftime, with the chance coming in the 38th minute when the crowd was clapping in honour of Perth-born Dylan Tombides who passed away of cancer in 2014. But Keogh’s header from a free-kick hit the upright.
The second half began disastrously for Central Coast when Austin was penalised for a crude challenge on Josh Risdon and Keogh then scored from a Risdon cross.
It was the fifth straight match Keogh has scored in.
Garcia then copped a second yellow card in four minutes to give the home team a two-man edge which led to a harsh penalty call on Nick Montgomery with little contact on Risdon in the box.
Keogh made no mistake at the spot before Harold put the finishing touches on the win, scoring in the final seconds after latching onto another Risdon cross.
Fadida
Guest
And still no criticism of Walmsley. Worst coach in A-League history statistically I'd imagine. Lucky for him his team are so busy having players sent off it is taking attention away from a truly rotten performance from the coach. Do us doubters still have egg on faces re the marquee? Pretty underwhelming after his first 2 sub appearances
Kareem
Guest
2 red cards in 4 seasons... Is tat every other game? His yellow card record is abysmal, but he is a British CDM...part and parcel of his play.
Ian
Guest
Yes we'll keep some of the best referees away from reffing some of the games, and sometimes the biggest game of the round, because you are obsessed with WSW being penalised all because you think everyone is cheating your team. You appear to be the only one complaining of a 'location bias'. And no wonder.....you probably do think we were hard done by in 2006.
Paul
Guest
Yes. Garcia should have more discipline. But the problem with the discipline starts and ends with the Manager. Poor discipline off the park results in poor discipline on the park. His captain seems to get sent off every other game and is 9 yellows -what a good example tjat is. but the issue of neutral referees is a real one. the issue seems to be a cost issue but needs to be overcome. I watched a 'neutral' Japanese referee yesterday and was mystified by some of the decisions given or not given to both teams. the standard of refereeing and assisting need to improve by 200%
The Phantom Commissioner
Roar Rookie
Great result and the boys keep marching on, another healthy crowd too the CEO posted we are averaging over 11k in the last 4 games and should be a big crowd on hand for our last home game against City. Must say though the Mariners have fallen in a big way and you wonder where they go from here, i don't think Glory really got out of 2 or 3rd gear and still won at a canter.
The Phantom Commissioner
Roar Rookie
Garcia should be more concerned with his stupidity, a reckless challenge that put his side in deeper crap than they were already in. Did not set a good example to young players either tweeting about the ref and implying bias, the ref is actually english and moved to Perth 5 years ago. Besides all that the reds were completely justified, Austin absolutely clattered Ridson twice and Garcia can have no complaints either.
Paul
Guest
I agree with Garcia on the referee policy. Gillett should have done the Perth/Mariners game and Fielding should have done the Brisbane/Melb Victory game. So often the perception of bias because of location should be avoided. Eg Shaun Evans should not do any Melbourne teams. Gillett should not do Brisbane games. And Ben Williams? Hmm. He should be consigned to the referees graveyard inhabited by Eddie Merck (infamous for Australia in the 2006 knockout game versus Italy)
Squizz
Guest
A lot if truth in that
Daniel T
Roar Rookie
They werent the worst fouls Ive ever seen, but CCM have no one to blame but themselves for the two red cards and string of yellows. As a Glory fan, I feel sorry for their fans as their coach has no idea. With so many tackles from behind, it is inevitable that players will get carded. You have point your finger at the coach when their players are consistently found out of position and forced to dive in to reckless tackles from behind. In contrast, Glory's defenders nearly always had the opposing player in front of them and werent made to chase CCM's players hence no yellow cards.