Perth Glory remain unbeaten four rounds into the NPLWA – Men’s competition after prevailing in a seven-goal thriller against Armadale at the Sam Kerr Football Centre.
The lead changed hands four times throughout Saturday’s helter-skelter affair, but ultimately it was Sam Byrne who struck late for the second week in a row, as Glory won 4-3 to go second in the table.
Second-bottom Armadale were chasing their first win of the campaign and led after seven minutes when Amir Ajan finished low past Liam Coyne after a nice move down the right.
Glory then turned it around to lead 2-1 on 13 minutes. Santiago Flores scored from Sam Barry’s cut back to tie it up before the forward deflected Barry’s long-range strike past a wrong-footed Sam Hocking to register his first two goals at NPL level following 27 with the U18s in 2023.
That made it 2-1 to John Walmsley’s side at half time but the introduction of Lachlan Collins and Pieter Jacobsz provided a spark off the bench for the visitors.
Ryley Wishart-Stephen’s header across goal was finished from close range by Jacobsz for 2-2 and the striker made it three goals in two games when following in after Lucas Cook’s effort was partially saved by Coyne.
Armadale led 3-2 and should have made it four when Hamish Van Dieken side-footed wide of the post, and that proved costly as Glory came from behind to earn a result for the third week in a row.
Substitute Khoa Ngo beat Hocking to a loose ball 35 yards out with the goalkeeper in no-man’s land to roll in to a vacant net, before Byrne’s 88th minute cross from the left looped over substitute stopper Preston Gilling.
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The weekend’s big winners were Western Knights who sit four points clear at the top after a 2-1 win over Balcatta made it four wins from four matches.
They had to come from behind when Shogo Osawa was fouled in the area and Ben Hinshelwood scored from the penalty spot to give Etna a 12th minute lead with his third goal of the season.
But for the fourth week in a row Balcatta could not hold onto a lead, meaning they sit 10th and without a win. Owen Goodliffe rattled in a brilliant volley midway through the first half to level the scores, before Albert Luwi put past an advancing Connor Campbell to bag the match-winning goal 17 seconds into the second period.
Knights’ lead at the summit opened up in part thanks to defeat for Bayswater City as they fell 2-0 to Fremantle City at Hilton Park.
A late goal in each half got the job done for Matty Sparrow’s side as they responded perfectly to last week’s first loss of the campaign to Kingsway.
Ollie La Galia was brought down in the box in first-half stoppage time before sending Lewis Italiano the wrong way to convert from the penalty spot.
The hosts had to wait while the 96th minute to seal it through Alex McLean, who moved to the top of the NPLWA goalscoring charts with his fourth goal of the season, against his former side.
Freo join third-placed Bayswater on seven points after four matches, but sit goal difference behind Floreat in fourth after they cruised to a 4-1 win over Perth SC.
It was Athena’s first home game of the season and the fans at E&D Litis Stadium would have been happy as Vas Vujacic’s side led 3-0 at the interval.
First, Mohamed Al-Zaidy pinched the ball off Abdul Osman and Noah Shamaki capitalised to finish stylishly from outside the box.
Loose marking from a set-piece gave Ajang Yout a free header which doubled the lead, and they made it three when Cherno Bah’s fancy footwork carved out an opening for the midfielder to poke past Rocco Liberti.
It was game over with an hour played when Sean McManus picked off another Perth mistake to run in and net for 4-0 which continued Floreat’s strong start to 2024.
Daniel Faichney’s cross caught Jason Saldaris off guard as Perth pulled back a consolation, but it was defeat for Danny Hay in his final game in charge with Kenny Lowe set to take the reins for Round Five.
Olympic Kingsway also feature in the cluster of teams on seven points in the top half of the table, despite drawing 1-1 with Perth RedStar in a northern suburbs derby.
It took David Tough’s side five minutes to hit the front when Mitch Oxborrow’s corner was helped on by Shane Cassidy with Liam Boland on hand to score at the back post.
Kingsway had a chance to double their lead 10 minutes after the restart, but Liam Reddy was equal to Boland’s penalty kick as he guessed the right way.
RedStar made them pay for that missed opportunity as they won a penalty of their own, which last year’s top scorer Daryl Nicol dispatched emphatically. But despite taking a point the champions sit in the bottom half of the division with just one win from their first four games.
Finally, Stirling Macedonia pushed themselves into mid-table after a 3-1 victory at winless Inglewood United.
Kai Matthews’ cross caused problems for the home defence with the ball eventually dropping in for an own goal.
A 1-0 lead at the interval was double on 55 minutes thanks to Calvin Whitney’s well-struck penalty, but Inglewood responded with a spot-kick of their own as Shubham Mokala scored to give Taki Nicolaidis’ side their first goal of the campaign.
But Joshua Bilaloski’s first NPL goal restored the two-goal cushion for Stirling and they kept hold of that lead to move within a point of third, while Inglewood stay two points adrift at the foot of the table.