Report by Blayne Treadgold

Perth Glory moved into second place on the NPL WA ladder with a second-half show of force against Joondalup United on Sunday.

LINKS TO FULL MATCH REPORTS BELOW

The visitors led at half-time at Ashfield Reserve thanks to a goal from Matthew Sparrow.

But just as in Round Two, United were unable to sustain their efforts and were picked off by Glory’s crop of exciting youngsters with Yacoub Mustafa and Jake Brimmer pulling the strings in a 4-1 win.

Daniel Stynes nodded Glory level early in the second half, followed by a quickfire double from Joseph Knowles and Brimmer.

Knowles grabbed his second to complete the scoring and although the home side were reduced to 10 men when Henry Hore collected a second yellow card, it didn’t take the gloss off coach John Gibson’s day.

“We showed great resilience to come back in the second half, in previous years we’ve really struggled against Joondalup,” Gibson said.

“It’s a tough league. It’s men’s football, we’ve got to be able to compete physically and use our quality when we do get on the ball. It’s a great league for us to learn in.”

Joondalup’s second-half collapse, following a similar drop-off against Bayswater last week when they conceded seven goals in the final half-hour, triggered a blast from coach Nick Jennings.

“It’s easy when you’re ahead but when you’re behind you must show character – I would question the character of some of our players,” said Jennings, whose side sit bottom and still waiting to pick up their first point.

Unbeaten Glory are two points off leaders Bayswater, who maintained their blistering start to the season with a 4-0 away win at Stirling Lions on Saturday.

Sitting third on the ladder are Perth SC after two-goal Gustavo Catarcione helped guide them to a 5-1 demolition of Armadale at Alfred Skeet Reserve on Friday night.

Arguably match of the weekend took place at Percy Doyle Reserve, where Sorrento held on to beat Forrestfield United 4-3.

Sorrento burst into an early 2-0 lead but had been pegged back by half-time.

Yet whatever coach Jamie Harnwell said to the Seagulls at half-time certainly had an effect as Jordan Roberts restored their two-goal advantage within a couple of minutes of the restart.

Forrestfield replied again but were unable to complete a second recovery, much to Harnwell’s relief.

“Defensively we weren’t good enough today but thankfully we scored enough goals and didn’t concede enough. It’s three points and we’ll move on,” he said.

In the other games, ECU Joondalup had two men sent off but still took a point at home to Subiaco, Inglewood United inflicted Cockburn’s first loss of the season, while Floreat Athena were too good for Balcatta.

RESULTS
Armadale 1-5 Perth SC
Inglewood United 3-1 Cockburn City
ECU Joondalup 0-0 Subiaco
Sorrento 4-3 Forrestfield United
Stirling Lions 0-4 Bayswater City
Floreat Athena 2-0 Balcatta
Perth Glory 4-1 Joondalup United