Cyera Hintzen helped herself to a brace and Izzy Foletta and Sofia Sakalis also got on the scoresheet as Glory turned on the style to down Newcastle Jets 4-0 at Macedonia Park on Sunday afternoon.
View full match highlights HERE.
The victory, their third on the trot, moved Alex Epakis’ side to within seven points of the Liberty A-League top four with two games in hand on fourth-placed Melbourne Victory.
Sakalis got things underway by calmly converting from the spot after 15 minutes and Foletta then slammed home her first ever A-League goal to send the hosts into the half-time break in control of the contest.
Sakalis then saw a second penalty saved early in the second half, but it proved to be of little significance as Hintzen went on to strike twice and ease Glory to their biggest win of the campaign to date.
Epakis was unsurprisingly full of praise for his charges after the game.
Listen to his full post-match media conference HERE.
“I’m really happy,” he said.
“We’re in a good spot at the moment and it’s not here by chance, it’s here because the players are doing very well.
“They’re training hard, they’re executing the gameplan and even in moments when you’ve got to roll your sleeves up and play a different style of game because of the way it plays out, we can offer that as well.
“So as a result of that, four goals, individually everyone did well and I couldn’t be much happier than I am.
“We’re going after them [Melbourne Victory], 100%.
“We saw last season that in the hunt for the Finals, the season can pose so many hurdles and ups and downs and we were on the wrong end of that as we missed out by goal difference.
“So that’s certainly a motivating factor for us.
“We’re going to continue to take it week by week, but we want to continue to win week by week to give ourselves a chance; that’s the focus.”
Despite being forced to play their third game in the space of just eight days, it was Newcastle who began the brightest, only for Glory to break the deadlock when Sakalis calmly converted from the spot having been tripped in the box.
1-0 became 2-0 just before the break, a bumper and vocal crowd of over 1000 roaring their approval as Perth local Foletta was teed up by Hintzen and crashed a ferocious shot past Georgina Worth.
Sakalis was unable to repeat her success from the spot five minutes into the second half, a handball gifting Glory the opportunity to make it 3-0, but Worth making a spectacular, one-handed save to keep out the midfielder’s effort.
Not that the women in purple were fazed by that miss as Hintzen effectively made the game safe midway through the half, capitalising on some tenacious play from substitute Demi Koulizakis and firing in a shot which took a deflection on its way past Worth.
If Newcastle’s ‘keeper felt a touch hard done by to be beaten by Hintzen’s first effort, she could have no complaints about the American’s second which arrived in stoppage-time.
With the final whistle just seconds away, Glory’s in-form centre-forward almost casually curled in a stunning shot from the edge of the box to add the final flourish to another impressive and vital victory.
Match Details
Liberty A-League 2022/23 Season Round 14
Perth Glory 4 (Sakalis (pen) 15′, Foletta 41′, Hintzen 67′, 90+7′) Newcastle Jets 0
Half-time: 2-0
Macedonia Park
Sunday 12 February 2023
Referee: Georgia Ghirardello
Perth Glory: 1.Morgan AQUINO (gk), 3.Kim CARROLL, 4.Natasha RIGBY (c), 7.Liz ANTON, 8.Hana LOWRY, 9.Demi KOULIZAKIS, 10.Susan PHONSONGKHAM (9.Demi KOULIZAKIS 46′), 12.Sofia SAKALIS (23.Alana JANCEVSKI 75′), 13.Sarah CAIN (14.Hannah BLAKE 46′), 15.Cyera HINTZEN, 18.Sadie LAWRENCE, 19.Izzy FOLETTA (17.Abbey GREEN 77′)
Substitutes not used: 41.Zara BROAD (gk)
Yellow Cards: Phonsongkham, Lawrence
Red Cards: None
Newcastle Jets: 1. Georgina WORTH, 3. Emily GARNIER, 6. Cass DAVIS (c), 12. Murphy AGNEW, 13. Lauren ALLAN (4. Josie ALLAN 83′), 14. Lucy JOHNSON (9. Tara ANDREWS 73′), 15. Sarah GRIFFITH, 18. Taren KING (23. Teigen ALLEN 73′), 19. Ash BRODIGAN, 22. Cannon CLOUGH, 25. Lara GOOCH (5. Leia PUXTY 67′)
Substitutes not used: 20. Claire COELHO
Yellow Cards: Brodigan
Red Cards: None
#ONEGlory
