Perth Glory reached the finals of the A-League competition by beating the visiting Central Coast Mariners 3-1 at ME Bank Stadium in Perth this evening.
It was the first time a side from the west of the continent has reached the A-League finals.
Glory rocked the Mariners with a goal in the opening minute by Daniel McBreen, who ran on to a long ball out of defence and beat defender Chris Doig before shooting home.
In the 13th minute, McBreen struck again after great work down the right by Scott Neville, who beat Andrew Clark on the byline and set up his team-mate for a tap-in.
In the first minute of stoppage time at the end of the first half, Andrija Jukic glanced home a shot by Andy Todd to make it 3-0 at the break.
Substitute Adam Kwasnik pulled a goal back for the visitors four minutes after the resumption.
Nik Mrdja headed a right-wing cross down at the far post and Kwasnik netted with his first touch of the match.
“We set ourselves the task of reaching sixth and we got fourth,” said Glory’s captain, Chris Coyne.
“It was a great start, with big Danny working his socks off.
“He’s been such a welcome addition since he’s come here with his work ethic and being a target man.
“A great start.
“We just want to climb up now.
“We’ve got in the six, but we’ve not achieved anything yet.
“We’re just starting to get on a good roll and we’ve got to continue that.”
It was the tenth game without a win for the Central Coast Mariners, who are in eight place and unable to make the top-six.
“We’re pretty disappointed as it’s another one that probably got away,” said Mariners captain Alex Wilkinson.
“Conceding a goal so early doesn’t help.
“And then the second goal, as well pretty early, put us on the back foot big time.
“Apart from that, I thought we knocked the ball around pretty well, especially in the second half.
“They were kept pretty much in their own half for much of the time and catching us on the break a bit.
“We had a few chances to maybe draw level, but it wasn’t to be.”
Perth Glory were not at full strength with goalkeeper Tando Velaphi and captain Jacob Burns and Mile Sterjovski amongst the absentees.
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