A-League Men: Perth Glory ease past Central Coast Mariners as Tom Lawrence scores ‘Olimpico’ in 3-0 win

Perth Glory have enjoyed their most dominant win of new coach Adam Griffiths’ tenure as Tom Lawrence once again dazzled in an emphatic 3-0 victory over Central Coast Mariners at HBF Park. The hosts pushed the pedal to the metal from the opening minute and their intensity did not drop for the next 90, the Mariners all at sea as Glory passed around and through them seemingly at will. Perth launched an astounding 18 shots goalward in the first half and two of them found the net — Nicholas Pennington’s simple finish and co-captain Adam Taggart’s second goal of the season. Lawrence was the star as he sliced though the visitors defences and after providing an assist for Taggart, he ended any hopes of comeback eight minutes after the restart when he scored an outstanding ‘Olimpico’ goal directly from a corner. But if the Welshman’s performance was the icing on the cake, several other Perth players provided added a tough, biscuit base in a win which nudged them to seventh on the ladder and within a win of third spot. Rhys Bozinovski and Gio De Abreu snapped at heels, broke up play and consistently picked the right passes in midfield while Charbel Shamoon’s clever runs from right-back caused issues. Beyond their goals, Taggart and Pennington were industrious and up the other end, Scott Wootton adequately dealt with any rare Mariners forays foward. The signs were ominous for Central Coast inside the first three minutes when Pennington’s point-blank header was tipped over by Andrew Redmayne, and then Taggart nodded wide from an offside position almost immediately after. Glory’s aerial assault continued as Brian Kaltak bounced a ball wide from a corner, before Redmayne tipped over De Abreu’s effort from outside the area. There were plenty of shots blocked by Mariners defenders too and for a moment it felt as if Glory would not be able to frank their dominance — and not for the first time this season. But Perth fans’ fears were alayed in the 24th minute when Trent Ostler picked out Shamoon’s intelligent position and the full-back’s ball across the face of goal was rifled home by Pennington. Central Coast were forced to come out of their shells and Miguel Di Pizio fired wide from range before Sebit Ngor headed over. An equaliser would have felt unjust and Perth pressed for a second as Lawrence out-muscled James Donachie, only for his strike to hammer off the post. Taggart had not scored since the opening game of the season, but his persistence paid off when Lawrence rolled the ball into his path and his clever hesitation opened up space, before his deflected strike wrong-footed Redmayne. Lawrence added his fifth goal of the season to an already impressive display, but the manner of it took many aback in the 54th minute when his stupendous in-swinging corner curled into the far, top corner of the net. The man himself simply turned to the crowd, held his arms aloft, and let himself bathe in the adulation. Bozinovski could have added a fourth but fired over and then midfielder Luke Amos added significant drive off the bench in his second game back from injury — a stark reminder of the quality Perth still have yet to return to full fitness.