Perth Glory secured the second emphatic victory of their Malaysia Tour on Wednesday night, Diego Castro (2), Zayd Farah (2), Fabio Ferreira, Chok Dau and Yagoub Mustafa sharing the goals as the Sarawak State Team were beaten 7-1.
Tony Popovic’s men, who also put seven past local Premier League side Sarawak FA last weekend, found themselves in front within the opening two minutes courtesy of a Castro penalty and dominated from there on in.
But credit must be given to the State Team who were staring down the barrel trailing 6-0 at half time, only to rally after the break and concede just one further goal in the second period.
There were barely 30 seconds on the clock when Ferreira was needlessly bundled over in the box and Castro duly converted the spot-kick.
And after Alex Grant and Dau had both gone close, a magical moment then arrived for Farah.
Neil Kilkenny delivered the 19th-minute corner and the 17-year-old defender rose highest to head home his first senior goal for the club.
Zayd Farah
Moments later, it was 3-0, Jason Davidson, Grant and Castro combining to set up Dau for the simplest of close-range finishes.
Farah then returned to the limelight by nodding home his second and Glory’s fourth of the night and a sharp finish from Castro saw him match the youngster’s brace soon after.
Five minutes before the break, the lively Ferreira got in on the act, carving his way into the box and rifling the ball into the roof of the net.
Popovic opted to make six changes at the start of the second half, throwing Brandon Wilson, Brendon Santalab, Tomislav Mrcela, Jake Brimmer, Dino Djulbic and Yagoub Mustafa into the fray and Glory inevitably took a little while to rediscover their fluency.
The hosts also lifted their game and it wasn’t until the 72nd minute that the men in purple struck again, Mustafa the man on target after substitute ‘keeper Awg Tarmizi had foiled Santalab and Brimmer in quick succession.
Sabri Abu almost claimed a late consolation for the State Team, sending a fierce effort just over Liam Reddy’s crossbar, but it was Glory who still managed to finish on the front foot, Tarmizi again being called into action to keep Santalab at bay in the last minute of normal time.
Match Details
Sarawak State Team 0 Perth Glory 7 (Castro 2′, 36′, Farah 19′, 26′, Dau 22′, Ferreira 40′, Mustafa 72′)
Half-time: 0-6
Stadium Negeri
Sarawak State Team: 22.Ahmad UZIR, 3.Peter FRANKE, 5.NURALIFF, 6.BENDICT, 8.Sabri ABU, 9.Nor AZIZI, 10.Shah Fiteri SALIM, 11.Hafiz SAFRI, 14.Shamsu ALAM, 17.Izray ROSLAN, 18.Awg KALMALUDIN
Substitutes: 1.AWG TARMIZI, 7.Zainudin BOLHI, 12.Rafizan RAZALI, 13.Sharan SAMAT, 16.Azri RAZALI, 21.BADRULSHIAM, 23.Yusman MOHD
Yellow Cards: None
Red Cards: None
Perth Glory: 33.Liam REDDY, 2.Alex GRANT (16.Tomislav MRCELA 46′), 3.Jason DAVIDSON (26.Yagoub MUSTAFA 46′), 4.Shane LOWRY (Dino DJULBIC 46′), 17.Diego CASTRO (20.Jake BRIMMER 46′), 19.Zayd FARAH, 22.Fabio FERREIRA (11.Brendon SANTALAB 46′), 25.Walter SCOTT, 27.JUANDE (15.Brandon WILSON 46′), 31.Chok DAU, 88.Neil KILKENNY (24.Henry HORE 64′)
Substitutes not used: None
Yellow Cards: None
Red Cards: None
#SarawakGlory #OneGlory
