Perth Glory continued their storming run to the A-League finals with a clinical 2-1 win over Wellington Phoenix at Westpac Stadium on Sunday.
Irishman Andy Keogh’s calm first-half finish, his eighth goal of the season, gave Perth a 1-0 lead at the break while Diego Castro’s 74th minute tap-in was his 12th.
The Phoenix continued to battle in an intense match which resulted in 10 yellow cards, and were rewarded in the 92nd minute when Tom Doyle slammed home a consolation goal from the edge of the box.
Glory coach Kenny Lowe said the win was just reward for Perth’s hard work.
“We created the better opportunities – it was a good game, and I thought we deserved the win,” he said.
“You’re never content, though. We were disappointed to concede but I thought we were really, really professional.”
The win is the Glory’s eighth in their last nine matches, and moves them to within three points of fourth-placed Adelaide with three matches of the regular season remaining.
Lowe isn’t ready just yet to think about the finals, preferring instead to focus on next week’s game against the Newcastle Jets.
“The next goal for us is the next game, and that’s the target – to get something out of that and then just keep rolling on.”
The final result flattered the Phoenix, Perth’s control of the match obvious with 21 shots on goal to Wellington’s four.
Wellington created a few half-chances but Perth’s back four were untroubled in snuffing out any danger, while at the other end of the field the visitors consistently showed more creativity and vision in front of goal.
The Glory’s persistence was rewarded in the 36th minute when Richard Garcia stormed down the left, leaving Wellington’s wide defenders flat-footed before cutting in and sending a well-weighted low cross for Keogh to flick home from the far post.
Chris Harold provided the impetus for Perth’s second goal with a scything run through the middle, and although Moss did well to save two strikes, Castro’s follow-up meant the third found the net.
Doyle’s consolation goal two minutes into added time, while well-taken, left the Phoenix on the wrong end of a deceptively flattering scoreline and coach Ernie Merrick was once again frustrated.
“The two players we knew would hurt us, that we wanted marked throughout the game, were Castro and Keogh,” Merrick said.
“No matter what I did, I couldn’t keep players on those two. They ran the show up front, and they really gave us a hard time at the back.
“To me, the difference was the quality of the players up front and the service to those players.”
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