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Perth Glory Women 5 Melbourne City Women 2
The Perth Glory women outplayed their Victorian opposition and took all three points in a seven goal thriller.
From the off Glory looked dangerous with the attacking trio of Sam Kerr, Rachel Hill and Alyssa Mautz determined to give Melbourne City, who are seeking their 4th successive W-League title, a run for their money.
Inside the opening ten minutes, Kerr picked up the ball in the centre circle and feigned a pass to the right. At that point, she noticed her teammate was offside, so she went all the way herself finishing with aplomb for a spectacular opener.
12 minutes later, Hill doubled the lead. She and Kerr combined well to put Glory 2-0 up. After good work on the right, City and Matilda’s keeper Lydia Williams saved Kerr’s initial effort but Hill was on hand to net the rebound.
City were not without chances and a curling shot by part-time occupational therapist, Rhali Dobson, brought out the best in Perth keeper Eliza Campbell. Seconds later, a thunderous strike by Elise Kellond-Knight forced Campbell to make a stop to her right to again preserve Glory’s 2 goal advantage.
City finally got the goal they deserved four minutes after half time. A brilliantly executed free kick by Kellond-Knight, from 20m out, just to the right of goal curled over the wall and into the Campbell’s top left corner to bring the score to 2-1.
That one goal deficit lasted just two minutes. Kerr wasted no time in restoring the two goal advantage, picking up a loose ball in the box and benefiting from a 
deflection to make it 3-1 to the Glory.
Kerr was denied her hat trick by a 63rd minute offside flag but a minute later Mautz reacted first to a ball that had crashed off the City crossbar to make it 4-1.
It was 4-2 shortly after following a Kellond-Knight penalty awarded for a foul on the American Jasmyne Spencer.
The final score came in stoppage time when Kerr unselfishly passed to Mautz for her second goal of the night on a dramatic night of football witnessing two Perth Glory wins and 12 goals.
Final score: Perth Glory 5 Melbourne City 2.
Melbourne City coach Rado Vidosic stated:
“They just had a freak up front. When you’re up against a world class player like Kerr what can you do? You just have to cop it on the chin. We wanted to isolate their full backs with our wingers and had some success. It could have swung our way when we got back to 4-2 down, but all credit to the Glory girls.”
Glory Women’s coach and club legend Bobby Despotovski felt that his team have a better balance this year with a strengthened defence allowing the attacking flair to prosper.
He was satisfied with the win tonight but feels that City have not become a bad team overnight and will be there at the death.
Perth Glory:
Campbell, Rigby, Naughton, Carroll, Onions, McKenna, Stanton, May, Mautz, Hill, Kerr. Subs: Gale, Douglas, Foletta, Aquino.
Melbourne City:
Williams, Blissett, Barnes, Vlanjic, Nielsen, Kinga, Kellond-Knight, Butt, Simon, Spencer, Dobson. Subs: Caceres, Stamatopolous, Sakalis, Barbieri.
