An extremely challenging season for Glory’s Westfield W-League team ended in a heavy defeat on Sunday as they were downed 6-0 by Melbourne Victory at Epping Stadium.
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Alex Epakis’ side, who endured a disrupted and truncated pre-season followed by a gruelling fixture schedule, struggled to contain a Victory side with a Finals place in their sights and trailed to two Melina Ayres goals at the break.
Any hopes of a second-half revival were all but extinguished when Claudia Bunge headed Victory’s third two minutes after the restart, with substitute Catherine Zimmerman soon adding the fourth.
And the impressive Kyra Cooney-Cross marked a player-of-the-match display by grabbing a brace as the scoreline blew out in the latter stages.
Glory did at least begin brightly, Hana Lowry bundling home what she thought was the opener in the fifth minute, only to have her effort ruled out for an apparent foul on Victory goalkeeper, Gabby Garton.
Following that let-off, the hosts seized control and after Lisa De Vanna, Melindaj Barbieri and Amy Jackson all went close, Ayres converted a Kayla Morrison cross to make it 1-0.
Ayres and Victory had their second goal in the 35th minute, this time the Australia Under-20 international finding the net after Lily Alfeld had spilled Annalie Longo’s strike from outside the box.
Bunge’s header and Zimmerman’s close-range finish proceeded to take the game further away from the visitors during the early stages of the second half and the scoring was duly completed by Cooney-Cross who found the net from just inside the box and then raced clear to bag her second with an emphatic finish.
That brought the curtain down on Glory’s campaign and also on the W-League career of Katarina Jukic who was named skipper for the day as she made her 38th and final appearance for the club.
Match Details
Melbourne Victory 6 (Ayres 21′, 35′, Bunge 48′, Zimmerman 53′, Cooney-Cross 60′, 76′) Perth Glory 0
Half-time: 2-0
Epping Stadium, Epping
Referee: Rebecca Mackie
Melbourne Victory: 1.Gabby GARTON, 3.Claudia BUNGE, 7.Kyra COONEY-CROSS, 8.Angela BEARD, 10.Annalie LONGO (9.Catherine ZIMMERMAN 46′), 11.Lisa De VANNA (19.Lia PRIVITELLI 61′), 13.Polly DORAN, 14. Melina AYRES (4.Natalie MARTINEAU 71′), 15. Amy JACKSON (2.Tiffany ELIADIS 61′), 18.Kayla MORRISON, 30.MelindaJ BARBIERI
Substitutes not used: 20.Mel MAIZELS (GK)
Yellow Cards: Ayres
Red Cards: None
Perth Glory: 1.Lily ALFELD (gk), 4.Natasha RIGBY (C), 5.Deborah-Anne DE LA HARPE, 6.Tijan MCKENNA, 7.Elizabeth ANTON, 8.Hana LOWRY, 9.Malia STEINMETZ (2.Sarah CARROLL 66′), 11.Patricia CHARALAMBOUS (14.Caitlin DOEGLAS 46′), 12.Sarah MORGAN (17.Marianna TABAIN 46′), 16.Isabella WALLHEAD, 23.Katarina JUKIC (10.Alexia MORENO 75′)
Substitutes not used: 20.Rebecca BENNETT (gk),
Yellow Cards: Carroll
Red Cards: None
#OneGlory
