Tom Lawrence scored a superb hat-trick as Glory secured a stunning 3-1 victory over reigning ALM Champions Melbourne City at AAMI Park on Sunday evening.
Click HERE for full match highlights.
Click HERE for Adam Griffiths’ post-match media conference.
The Welsh international fired Adam Griffiths’ side into a 2-0 half-time lead via a brace of clinical finishes and added a third ten minutes from time to render Andrew Nabbout’s late reply for the hosts nothing more than a consolation.
The victory, Glory’s third on the bounce away from home, delighted a packed and raucous away bay at AAMI Park and lifted the men in purple to seventh on the A-League ladder.
The visitors wasted no time whatsoever in getting on the front foot right from the opening whistle and were rewarded for their adventure and positivity in the tenth minute when Lawrence found the net.
Arion Sulemani did the groundwork, wriggling away from Alex Bonetig wide out on the right and then moving the ball on to Trent Ostler whose cut back was swept home imperiously by Lawrence.
The frenetic early pace then continued as Matt Sutton produced a stunning, point-blank save to thwart Andreas Kuen at the other end and Glory responded almost immediately to that let-off by doubling their lead.
Sulemani had just been denied by Patrick Beach when he again sliced his way through down the right, with the ball eventually breaking for Lawrence who applied another clinical finish.
2-0 very nearly became 3-0 five minutes later as Sam Sutton sent a fierce, angled shot crashing against the crossbar and Beach then got down well to keep out a strike from Ostler.
The chances continued to flow right into stoppage time at the end of what was a helter-skelter first half, with the final action seeing Matt Sutton and Charbel Shamoon combine to prevent the lively Kuen from prodding home a loose ball in the box.
City were always likely to mount a response after the restart and they duly did, Aziz Behich sending a curling, right-footed effort narrowly wide of the far post seven minutes in and then seeing another effort saved by Sutton, with Scott Wootton on hand to hack the rebound clear.
Substitute Emin Durakovic also tested the Glory ‘keeper, but just as a tense finale loomed, Lawrence struck again to make the points safe.
Fresh from the bench, Khoa Ngo led a rapid Glory counter, eventually finding Lawrence who picked out Adam Taggart in the box.
Taggart, who had also been introduced from the bench, saw his strike parried by Beach and Lawrence was on hand to tuck home the rebound.
Nabbout subsequently capitalised upon a rare Matt Sutton error right at the death to to reduce the arrears, but his goal did nothing to take the edge off a truly magnificent away display from Glory.
Match Details
Isuzu UTE A-League 2025/26 Season Round 10
Melbourne City 1 (Nabbout 90+3′) Perth Glory 3 (Lawrence 10′, 22′, 80′)
Half-time: 0-2
AAMI Park
Sunday 28 December 2025
Referee: Casey Reibelt
Melbourne City: 1. Patrick BEACH (GK), 4. Liam BONETIG (26.Samuel SOUPRAYEN 46′), 10. Takeshi KANAMORI (39.Emin DURAKOVIC 61′), 13. Nathaniel ATKINSON (37. Peter ANTONIOU 82′), 15. Andrew NABBOUT, 16. Aziz BEHICH (C), 17. Max CAPUTO (35.Medin MEMETI 46′), 22. Germán FERREYRA, 27. Kai TREWIN, 30. Andreas KUEN (38. Beckham BAKER 76′), 47. Kavian RAHMANI
Substitutes not used: 19. Zane SCHREIBER, 33. Dakota OCHSENHAM (GK)
Yellow Cards: Ferreyra, Behich
Red Cards: None
Perth Glory: 29.Matt SUTTON (gk), 2.Charbel SHAMOON, 3.Sam SUTTON (5.Riley FOXE 84′), 4.Scott WOOTTON, 7.Nicholas PENNINGTON, 17.Arion SULEMANI (22.Adam TAGGART (c) 61′), 18.Rhys BOZINOVSKI (39.Giovanni DE ABREU 55′), 20.Trent OSTLER (26.Khoa NGO 61′), 27.Will FRENEY, 34.Tom LAWRENCE (24.Andriano LEBIB 84′), 45.Brian KALTAK
Substitutes not used: 21.Adam BUGARIJA, 40.Ryan WARNER (gk)
Yellow Cards: De Abreu
Red Cards: None
#ONEGlory
ALM Match Wrap: Lawrence hat-trick fires Glory to stunning away win over Champions City
