Glory on target to seal that top spot

PERTH Glory has one hand on the A-League premiership after torching Melbourne Victory to win their top-of-the-table clash 2-1 at AAMI Park yesterday.

Neil Kilkenny and Diego Castro struck second-half goals to swell their lead to seven points on top of the ladder. Kosta Barbarouses’s late effort made no difference to the outcome and, with nine matches to play, Perth is within sight of a first piece of A-League silverware.

Showing Tony Popovic’s side to be worthy title aspirants, for the second time this season, they travelled to the home of the champions and departed as winners.

“Everyone has their views on what this game meant,” Popovic said. “For us, it was just another challenge, another important match that we could still show our consistency, show our quality and show that we don’t have fear. If you analyse the whole game, of course we deserved the three points.”

After their last-gasp 3-2 win in October, it took a little longer for both sides to hit top gear yesterday. Victory and the Glory came into the match as the league’s top scorers — but without their best strikers — and both laboured to half-time without clear-cut chances.

Victory were missing Swedish international Ola Toivonen and kept Keisuke Honda and Georg Niedermeier on the bench as they recovered from injuries. The Glory’s Andy Keogh was also on the bench, but for tactical reasons as Popovic opted for a top two of Joel Chianese and Chris Ikonomidis.

While they didn’t have their stars, Victory were organised and determined, keeping the Glory at bay. MATILDAS superstar Sam Kerr has fired Perth into the W-League grand final, scoring a hat-trick and setting up another goal as the Glory came from behind to defeat Melbourne Victory 4-2 in a semi-final stunner.

Kerr struck twice in extratime as the Western Australians denied the premiers a place in the decider.