Andy Keogh celebrated his birthday in style by scoring a remarkable four goals as Glory hammered Western Sydney Wanderers 5-1 at HBF Park on Sunday evening.
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The former Ireland international opened his account for the season with an early header, while his second was a stunning long-range lob and he completed his quartet after the break with a penalty and a close-range finish.
In doing so, Keogh became only the second Glory player ever to score four goals in a single A-League game, joining Shane Smeltz who managed the feat against Melbourne Victory in March 2012.
Glory took a firm grip on the game courtesy of Keogh’s two first-half goals and although a fine strike from Bruce Kamau briefly brought Wanderers back into the game just after the break, the club’s record A-League goalscorer swiftly restored the home side’s lead from the spot before claiming his fourth, with a stoppage-time effort from substitute Joel Chianese completing the rout.
The victory, Glory’s third on the bounce, moves the men in purple to within three points of the top six with a game in hand on all but one of the sides above them and Head Coach Richard Garcia was naturally delighted with the night’s work.
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“There were very similar signs at the start of the season and we’ve had a difficult season and schedule,” he said, “so it’s great to see the boys believe in the process and continue to fight and to have the confidence to go out and perform like that.
“We’ve continued to grow with our mentality and I really feel that the defensive players in particular have had a really steely mindset and that’s really pleasing.
“It’s good to see them, as a team, get behind each other and make sure that they’re fighting for every ball.
“We want to always be putting our best foot forward and that ‘s what we’ll be doing again on Wednesday [v Adelaide United at HBF Park].”
Glory got off to the best possible start, hitting the front inside the opening five minutes as Diego Castro released Kosuke Ota down the left and his inviting cross was met with a stopping header from Keogh which arrowed its way into the bottom corner.
Liam Reddy then produced a fine double save to prevent Wanderers from levelling things up, diving at the feet of James Troisi and then bravely blocking the follow-up from Mitch Duke at point-blank range.
And Glory took full advantage of that let-off as Keogh scored one of the most remarkable goals seen at HBF Park in recent years.
After playing a one-two with Bruno Fornaroli, he spotted Wanderers ‘keeper Daniel Margush off his line and from fully 40m out, lifted an inch-perfect lob into the back of the net.
Wanderers needed a goal early in the second half to force themselves back into the contest and they duly found one inside four minutes, Patrick Ziegler feeding Kamau who bent a fine shot in off the inside of the upright.
With their tails up at that stage, the red-and-blacks came close to making it 2-2 as Graham Dorrans shot narrowly wide of the post from just outside the box and a fine block from Reddy was required to keep Troisi at bay.
But just as they had in the first half, the hosts responded in the best possible way, Keogh calmly converting from the spot after Chianese’s cross from the right had been handled by the luckless Ziegler.
In the 72nd minute, the game was effectively made safe when Chris Ikonomidis showed great persistence to force his way into the box and deliver a looping cross which Keogh bundled in at the far post.
And the cake was iced right at the death as Chianese latched on to a neat through-ball from fellow-substitute Osama Malik and toe-poked past Margush to claim his second goal in as many games and fourth of the season.
Match Details
Perth Glory 5 (Keogh 5′, 24′, 66′ (pen), 72′, Chianese 90+4′) Western Sydney Wanderers FC 1 (Kamau 49′)
Half-time: 2-0
HBF Park, Perth
Referee: Daniel Elder
Perth Glory: 33.Liam REDDY (gk), 2.Jason GERIA, 5.Jonathan ASPROPOTAMITIS, 7.Chris IKONOMIDIS (23.Dane INGHAM 87′), 8.Kosuke OTA, 9.Bruno FORNAROLI (11.Joel CHIANESE 62′), 10.Andy KEOGH, 13.Luke BODNAR (6.Osama MALIK 67′), 17.Diego CASTRO (c) (18.Nick D’AGOSTINO 87′), 19.Callum TIMMINS, 29.Darryl LACHMAN
Substitutes not used: 1.Tando VELAPHI (gk), 20.Carlo ARMIENTO, 37.Riley WARLAND
Yellow Cards: Iknonomidis
Red Cards: None
Western Sydney Wanderers FC: 30.Daniel MARGUSH (GK), 2.Ziggy GORDON, 7.Bruce KAMAU, 8.Steven UGARKOVIC, 12.Mitchell DUKE (9.Bernie IBINI 73′), 13.Tate RUSSELL, 14.James TROISI (77.Scott MCDONALD 73′) 18.Graham DORRANS, 33.Mark NATTA (17.Keanu BACCUS 73′), 34.Patrick ZIEGLER, 39.Thomas AQUILINA
Substitutes not used: 4.Dylan MCGOWAN, 19.Jordon MUTCH, 27.Nicolai MULLER, 50.Oliver KALAC (GK)
Yellow Cards: Kamau
Red Cards: None
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