Western United 4-1 Perth Glory
by Alyce Collett (21/1/25)
Above: Grace Maher, scorer of Western United’s second goal. Photo: Western United
Western United has put out a dominant display to pick up a 4-1 win over Perth Glory thanks to an own goal and strikes from Grace Maher, Melissa Taranto, and Aimee Medwin. Gabby Hollar did pull one back for the Glory late in the piece, but the Glory were well outclassed by their hosts.
Western United started pretty lively in the opening minutes, with Chloe Logarzo and Kahli Johnson in particular getting in dangerous positions.
The Glory were not without attacking momentum, but were for the most part struggling to connect with their forwards and work around the United defence.
Western United continued to rack up the ‘so close yet so far’ attempts on goal, going extremely close on a number of occasions but could not get one in the back of the net. Perth also had a couple of positive chances, but nowhere near as many as their hosts.
Mel Taranto was also starting to become really influential for the home side, creating a lot of drive through the centre of midfield.
Western finally got its reward just over the half-hour mark when after some confusion in the Perth defence Valletta accidentally guided the ball into the back of the net for an own goal.
United doubled its lead minutes later when Maher scored a wonderful Olympico from her corner kick, and all of a sudden the scoreboard was matching what was happening on the field.
The home side continued to maintain control of the match and keep attacking the goals, but ultimately could not add to their lead before the halftime whistle went.
It was pretty free-flowing proceedings to start the second half, but it was Perth who got closest to scoring a goal in the opening exchanges of the half, but ultimately the Glory were unable to convert any of their chances. Western was also not afraid to bring the aggression with its play, with a number of Perth players finding themselves on the deck after falling victim to a well-timed Western bump.
The hosts then added to its advantage with about 20 minutes to go after Mel Taranto snuck a shot into the bottom corner that originally looked like it was just intended to be a through ball but it ended up in the back of the net.
As the clock ticked down to its last 10 minutes, it did not look like Perth were going to be able to convert any of its chances, but out of nowhere, Gabby Hollar headed a ball on the line into the back of the net to peg one back for the visitors.
However United were quick to restore their three-goal lead when Medwin snuck a ball past Perth keeper Casey Dumont to truly put the final nail in the coffin of the result.
Teams: WESTERN UNITED (4-3-3): Lincoln, Sardo, Dehakiz, Maher, Grove, Eggesvik, M.Taranto, A.Taranto, Zimmerman, Johnson, Logarzo. Substitutes: Dall’oste, Roach, Medwin, De Domizio, Prakash.
Scorers: Valletta [OG] 34’. Maher 36 ‘, M. Taranto 71’ Medwin 87′.
PERTH GLORY (4-3-3): Dumont, Valletta, Johnston, Wynne, Hollar, Tathem, Doeglas, Chinnama, Dalton, Wainwright, Zogg. Substitutes: Templeman, Anderson, Sunaga, Abdul Massih, Lincoln.
Scorers: Hollar 81’.
Referee: Molly Godsell
Attendance: 503.
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