Report by Josh Chiat

Perth Glory Youth avoided the wooden spoon in the PS4 National Premier Leagues WA with a 3-0 win against fifth-placed Cockburn City at Dalmatinac Park.

Nikola Talimdzioski scored a brace to ensure the Glory would take a winning streak into the start of the National Youth League. 

Perth Glory bared their teeth from the start, opening proceedings with a shot directly from the kick-off.

They continued to be the more aggressive team over the course of the first half and were rewarded on 15 minutes when Talimdzioski beat Cockburn's offside trap to poke past goalkeeper Jack Adams.

“I thought they [Glory] were fantastic today. They set the tone in the first half,” admitted Cockburn coach Mark Anthony.

One fascinating sub-plot was Rory Patterson's attempt to win the Golden Boot in his first season for Cockburn, having entered the game level with Bayswater's Gustavo Giron Marulanda on 20 goals.

While he had enough chances to win the Golden Boot in this game alone, the Northern Irishman failed to add to his tally as Marulanda scored twice against Stirling.

“He'll be disappointed because he did have five or six chances today.” said Anthony.

Cockburn's two best chances before half-time fell to Patterson. After robbing Glory's Nathan Costello of the ball on the halfway line, he found himself one-on-one with Glory keeper Jordan Franken, only to strike wide when he should have done better.

Franken then maintained his side's fragile lead shortly before half-time when he came off his line to smother Patterson's low effort.

Cockburn came out the stronger of the two sides after half time but were vulnerable to Glory's counter attack. On 57 minutes Talimdzioski picked up his second goal, striking across the goalkeeper having been played in by Slobodan Vulin.

Patterson missed numerous chances to put himself in contention with Franken making three superb reaction saves to ensure they closed out the game.

In injury time, a mazy run from Walieden Ismail led to Sam McKearnan finishing coolly to seal the points.

Coach John Gibson was full of praise for his charges' strong finish to the season.

“We just wanted to get better the whole year. It was all about us improving in our processes, and if we did that better we'd get the rewards we deserved,” he said.

“And that's what we've done, particularly in the back end of the season”.

Cockburn City 0
Perth Glory Youth 3 (Talimdzioski 15', 57', McKearnan 90+1')
Saturday 5 September 2015
Dalmatinac Park
Referee: Josh Mannella
Assistants: Sam Moayer, Hayden Frost

Cockburn City: 23. Jack ADAMS, 3. Jonathan CORNESS, 4. Euen GRANT (9. Liam MURRAY 78'), 5. Alan CARROLL, 8. David ARAYA (12. Feisal ZAW 62'), 10. Rory PATTERSON, 11. Devon GIBSON, 13. Blake ADAMS (2. Josh KUSER 78'), 14. Conor KAVANAGH, 15. Harry O'BRIEN, 17. Eamon McNELIS (c)
Subs not used: 1. Eric CUTRI, 16. Julian TELES
Yellow Cards: Patterson 65', Carroll 86'
Red Cards: Nil

Perth Glory: 1. Jordan FRANKEN, 2. Gian ALBANO (12. Walieden ISMAIL 57'), 3. Ross MILLARD, 4. Nathan COSTELLO (c), 5. Ali GHOLAMI, 6. Jacob COLLARD, 7. Calvin WHITNEY, 8. Dejan SPASESKI, 9. Stefan VALENTINI (13. Matthew NTOUMENOPOULOS 89'), 10. Slobodan VULIN (17. Sam MCKEARNAN 78'), 11. Nikola TALIMDZIOSKI
Subs not used: 20. Jordan YOUNG, 14. Michael McDOUGALL
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil