Macarthur hammer Perth Glory 6-1 to go top of ALM
Macarthur put on a show under the watchful eyes of Socceroos coach Tony Popovic, obliterating Perth Glory 6-1 to claim the biggest win in the club’s A-League Men history.
The Bulls moved to the top of the table with a victory at Campbelltown Sports Stadium on Sunday that condemned David Zdrilic to a horrifying debut outing as Perth coach.
The Glory were directionless and made Macarthur look like world-beaters as the Bulls surged to a 5-0 lead at halftime.
And the thing Popovic will have loved the most ahead of next month’s World Cup qualifiers with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain was that all bar one of Macarthur’s goals were scored by Australia-eligible players.
Creative playmaker Jake Hollman scored a goal and set up two more, Croatian-born left winger Marin Jakolis scored twice and right winger Jed Drew also registered a goal and an assist.
Perth were directionless throughout the opening half and the Bulls were more than happy to take advantage, with Hollman capitalising on a wayward backpass to give his side the opening goal.
Glory goalkeeper Oli Sail could only palm the ball away, and it fell into the path of Jed Drew.
The winger hit home for a sixth-minute opener, then charged down the right flank and returned the favour for Hollman, who scored next to put the Bulls 2-0 up inside quarter of an hour.
But more pain was to come for the Glory.
Jakolis made a slaloming run through the Perth box, beating three motionless defenders to unleash on Sail in the 21st minute.
Again, the Perth goalkeeper was up to the task, but the deflection fell into the path of Macarthur defender Tomi Uskok to hit home.
Hollman turned provider on the half-hour mark, sliding a perfectly weighted pass behind the Glory line to Jakolis, who let fire from the edge of the box, past Sail and into the back of the net.
Jakolis added a second just on halftime, and the closest Perth could get was when Socceroos forward Adam Taggart hit the back of the net, only to have his strike ruled out for offside.
Zdrilic made three half-time changes and Taggart again had a goal chalked off for an offside.
Normal service quickly resumed, with Jakolis teeing up Frenchman Valere Germain, who tapped in Macarthur’s sixth from close range.
Adam Bugarija hit back late on for Perth, but by the time he found the net the damage had well and truly been done.
#Macarthur #hammer #Perth #Glory #top #ALM