Brian Kaltak and Stefan Colakovski both found the net as Glory fought out an entertaining 2-2 away draw with reigning Premiers Auckland FC on Sunday to stay very much in the Finals hunt.
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Adam Griffiths’ men recovered from a slow start in which they conceded the opening goal of the game to Sam Cosgrove after just seven minutes and were level at the break as Brian Kaltak marked his 100th A-League s appearance by bagging his first Glory goal with a diving header.
Stefan Colakovski then gave the visitors the lead with the third goal of his second spell at the club and although that effort was cancelled out by a Sam Sutton own-goal four minutes later, the visitors more than held their own in the final half-hour to make it back-to-back draws on the road.
The result leaves Glory four points outside the top six ahead of Saturday’s second game of their New Zealand swing against Wellington Phoenix.
A first half fairly light on in terms of goalmouth incident was bookended by two well-taken goals, the first of which was rifled in by Cosgrove.
Given time to turn and get his head up just outside the box, the English striker duly unleashed a low shot which flashed through a crowd of players and into the bottom corner.
At that stage Glory were struggling to contain the fired-up hosts who came close to doubling their lead on several occasions through Guillermo May, Logan Rogerson and Jesse Randall.
But having weathered that storm, the WA side began to secure a foothold in the contest and moments after Colakovski fired his side’s first chance over the bar, Kaltak struck to make it 1-1.
The Auckland defence failed to deal with Luca Tevere’s corner, allowing it to bounce across the face of goal and Kaltak shrugged off his marker to force the ball home at the far post.
The tone for an helter-skelter second half was set inside the opening two minutes when Cosgrove’s downward header was tipped over by Sutton as it bounced back up and threatened to loop into the net.
The Glory ‘keeper then produced a superb save to keep out a goalbound strike from Cameron Howieson, before the action swung to the other end as Colakovski grabbed the game’s third goal.
Luca Tevere was the architect, powering forward from midfield before directing a perfectly-timed pass into the path of the overlapping Colakovski who calmly beat Michael Woud in the home goal.
Glory did not have long to savour their lead, however, as Auckland hit back almost immediately in slightly bizarre circumstances.
When Sam Sutton diverted a Francis De Vries cross into his own net under severe pressure from Cosgrove, referee Declan Woods initially ruled it out for a foul on the Glory defender, but following after a referral to VAR, the goal was given.
That effort set up a frantic final half-hour in which both sides had opportunities to claim all three points.
De Vries came close to finding the net for Auckland direct from a corner before Glory substitute Trent Ostler had a lobbed effort headed off the line by Dan Hall, Sutton was forced into action once again to thwart Guillermo May and right at the death, Adam Taggart fizzed a 20m strike inches wide.
Match Details
Isuzu UTE A-League 2025/26 Season Round 20
Auckland FC 2 (Cosgrove 7′, Sutton (o.g.) 61′) Perth Glory 2 (Kaltak 39′, Colakovski 57′)
Half-time: 1-1
Go Media Stadium
Sunday 8 March 2026
Referee: Declan Woods
Attendance: 12777
Auckland FC: 1. Michael WOUD, 3. Jake GIRDWOOD-REICH, 7. Cameron HOWIESON (22. Jake BRIMMER 65′), 8. Felipe GALLEGOS (77. Lachlan BROOK 65′), 9. Sam COSGROVE, 10. Guillermo MAY, 15. Francis DE VRIES, 17. Callan ELLIOT (35. Jonty BIDOIS 90+4′), 21. Jesse RANDALL, 23. Dan HALL, 27. Logan ROGERSON (6. Louis VERSTRAETE 65′)
Substitutes not used: 12. Jimmy HILTON (gk), 14.Liam GILLION, , 52.Luka VICELICH
Yellow Cards: None
Red Cards: None
Perth Glory: 29.Matt SUTTON (gk), 2.Charbel SHAMOON, 3.Sam SUTTON, 4.Scott WOOTTON (c), 7.Nicholas PENNINGTON, 8.Callum TIMMINS (19.Josh RISDON 83′), 9.Jaiden KUCHARSKI (22.Adam TAGGART 67′), 18.Luca TEVERE (20.Trent OSTLER 67′), 27.Will FRENEY (24.Andriano LEBIB 90′), 45.Brian KALTAK, 67.Stefan COLAKOVSKI (23.Anthony DIDULICA 90′)
Substitutes not used: 40.Ryan WARNER (gk), 16.Gabriel POPOVIC
Yellow Cards: Freney, Colakovski
Red Cards: None
#ONEGlory
ALM Match Wrap: Glory hold Premiers on the road to stay in Finals race
