Report by Kane Sutton

A five-goal second half saw Balcatta dispose of Perth Glory with the winners scoring three goals in five minutes to dash any hope of success for the home side.

Glory went into the game missing some of its usual starting XI, with several players currently in Malaysia, an were overrun in the second half as Balcatta posted a 6-1 win.

The club was able to utilise some of their younger players, which coach Jacob Burns believed was a crucial learning experience for those on the field.

“[The loss is] a hard pill to swallow for the young guys, but we've pulled four or five from the 18s and the 20s reserve team, and I was very impressed that they held their own.

“It's easy to hide things when everything's going well and results are there but you learn a lot about football and yourself and your test of character when the results aren't there.”

Balcatta put their stamp on the game early with Cameron Teece making the most of a parried save by the young Glory keeper to score the first goal at the six-minute mark.

Glory were patient and calculated in their approach, spending much of the first half passing the ball around in the back half, waiting for the right opening.

Their opportunity came when a pass into space allowed Daniel Stynes to break ahead of the Balcatta defence and slam one into the back of the net a few minutes before half time.

The opening minutes of the second half saw Glory come out firing, but they couldn't make a crucial conversion, with some desperate blocks and last-second tackles by the Balcatta defence keeping the scores level.

The home side were made to rue their unsuccessful chances when Carlo Coelho struck true in the 61st minute.

From there, the floodgates opened. Balcatta's Teece scored his second a minute later thanks to a brilliant through ball, before Gomo Dukuly, who had looked dangerous all day, lined up his angles correctly and powered one in at the 66 minute mark.

Teece secured his hat-trick in the 73rd minute from an accurate ground cross, and Dukuly would have added to his tally minutes later with a clinical header, were it not for the linesman's offside flag.

Glory struggled to keep much momentum in the closing minutes with a lot of sky balls, and their only promising shot was brilliantly knocked over the crossbar by Balcatta goalie Clint Davies.

The away team rubbed salt in the wounds with a final goal by substitute Steve Sokol in the 84th minute, who had fresh legs and was able to take the ball past Glory's defence and around the keeper to pass it into the net.

Balcatta’s Marc Anthony, despite being pleased with the end result, felt there was much they could have done better particularly in the first half.

“We weren't at the races in the first half. That's probably as poor as we've played all season,” he said.

It's been a frustrating season thus far for Balcatta, who sit mid table due to some tight losses earlier this year.

“We've done well. We went to Stirling last week and beat them, obviously we've got the result today, and we lost the last kick of the ball against Floreat. We had nine men against Inglewood and pushed them to extra time.”

To Anthony it's important to keep the momentum up after a big win.

“We're pushing along well. We've got a tough game against Bayswater next week, but we'll just keep going the way we're going.

“We've got a good bunch of young kids willing to work hard and that's half the battle.”

Perth Glory 1 (Daniel Stynes 42min)
Balcatta 6 (Cameron Teece 7min, 62, 74, Carlo Coelho 61, Gomo Dukuly 66, Steve Sokol 84)
Saturday, May 28, 2016
Ashfield Reserve
Kick-off: 3:00pm
Referee: Tom Dowle
Assistant Referees: Liviu Katona, Simon Hicks

Perth Glory: 1. Jackson LEE, 2. Ben JOHNS, 3. Dejan SPASESKI, 4. Luc BODNAR, 6. Cal WHITNEY, 7. Daniel STYNES (41'), 8. Sean TROUP, 9. Joseph KNOWLES 10. Yagoub MUSTAFA, 11. Nic TALIMDZIOSKI, (12 Chok DAU), (14. Sasa NJEGIC)
Substitutes not used: 13. Joe MARINO, 15. Abu DELLES, 16. Jesse MCEWAN
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil

Balcatta: 1. Clint DAVIES, 2. Hanafi GHAZALI, 3. Keiron STALLARD, 6. John CORNESS, 9. Carlo COELHO (61'), 10. Zelphy NAZARY, (11. Feisal ZAW), 12. Eamon MCNELIS, 13. Cameron TEECE (6', 62', 73'), 17. Kieran COLWELL, 19. Alan CARROLL, (20. Steve SOKOL 84'), 23. Gomo DUKULY (66')
Substitutes not used: 4. Alexsander SULESKI, 16. Mark ELDRIDGE, 44. Josiah GODFREY
Yellow Cards: 13. Cameron TEECE 38'
Red Cards: Nil