Glory coast home against Mariners to accentuate class divide

Perth Glory had little more than a training run in a 3-0 romp over Central Coast Mariners.

Perth Glory’s Diego Castro looks to pass against Cantral Coast Mariners in Gosford. Picture: Getty Images

It was always going to be the sort of mismatch you would expect when the competition leaders play the wooden spooners, and Perth Glory had little more than a training run in a 3-0 romp over Central Coast Mariners last night.

The gulf in class between the two sides was every bit of the 44 competition points difference as Joel Chianese (12th minute), Dino Djulbic (29th) and Neil Kilkenny (56th) feasted on a side low in confidence and clearly aching for the season to come to a merciful end.

Needing to react to Sydney FC’s win over Melbourne Victory on Saturday night that saw the Sky Blues move to within three points of them, Tony Popovic’s men never needed to move out of low gear as they ensured they stayed on course to finish the regular season on top of the table. The West Australians extended their lead to six points with four rounds left and remain firm favourites to claim the Premiers Plate.

After a fairytale win in his first match in charge against Newcastle Jets, Mariners interim boss Alen Stajcic has now watched his side fall short in their last two games against Adelaide United and now Perth.

To be honest, though, Stajcic has been presented with a near impossible task, trying to get some semblance of respectability back in what has been yet another disastrous season for the Mariners. He hasn’t done his chances of getting the job on a full-time basis for next season any harm.

If the Mariners were to have any chance of getting out of this game relatively unscathed they needed to contain the red-hot Glory attack early. But the signs were not good as the visitors started with plenty of intent.

Glory had done their homework, too, clearly targeting the home side’s left-side defence through Ivan Franjic and Joel Chianese.

Both were heavily involved not just in the early exchanges but throughout the first half and it came as no surprise when Glory opened the scoring on 12 minutes.

Chianese produced a nice piece of individual brilliance to get into the box then turn a defender before striking his left-foot shot into the bottom right-hand corner of the net.

Perth struck again in the 29th minute through big defender Dino Djulbic, who climbed high to send a thundering header into the top left-hand corner of the net, giving goalkeeper Ben Kennedy no chance.

The Glory were sufficiently comfortable to be able to play out the final four minutes of the half with just 10 players with Chris Ikonomidis going off to the dressing rooms for treatment.

Popovic opted not to replace him immediately, instead waiting to see if he recovered enough to go back on to the field after the break.

As it turned out, Ikonomidis didn’t reappear for the second half and was replaced by Diego Castro.

Castro’s impact was almost instant as he was brought down in the box by Jacob Melling 11 minutes into the half. Kilkenny did the rest, scoring from the penalty spot.