Clinical Glory polish off Jets with Castro to the fore

Diego Castro and Neil Kilkenny put on star displays as Perth Glory ended their goal drought with a 2-0 win over Newcastle.

James Troisi scores Melbourne’s second and decisive goal. Picture: Getty Images.

Diego Castro and Neil Kilkenny put on star displays as Perth Glory ended their goal drought with a 2-0 win over Newcastle at HBF Park yesterday.

Castro and Kilkenny combined brilliantly to set up Andy Keogh’s 16th-minute opener in a game that started in 30-degree heat. And Kilkenny produced a beautiful curling effort from the edge of the box in the 47th minute to help seal the three points.

Glory entered the match under pressure to score goals after posting lacklustre 0-0 draws against Melbourne City and Adelaide United.

But with Castro back in the starting line-up and firing on all cylinders, Glory looked a far more fluid and creative outfit.

The win lifted Glory four points clear of second-placed Melbourne Victory, who beat Sydney FC 2-1 earlier in the round.

The Jets, last season’s grand finalists, have just 15 points to their name, well shy of fifth-placed Adelaide and sixth-placed Wellington, who both have 26. Glory coach Tony Popovic had made 19 changes to his starting line-up over the previous four games in a bid to rotate his players.

And the trend continued against the Jets, with stars such as Andy Keogh, Castro, and Matthew Spiranovic among the five changes.

Castro and Kilkenny played brilliant roles in Glory’s opener. Kilkenny’s pinpoint lob over Newcastle’s defence found a running Castro, who expertly trapped the ball and shaped to shoot — before giving off a deft pass with the outside of his left boot as the goalkeeper closed.

A charging Keogh did the rest, poking the ball into the back of the net to send the 11,393 crowd wild.Castro’s creativity was causing Newcastle’s defence all sorts of headaches, and Glory could have easily been 3-0 up at halftime instead of 1-0. Kilkenny scored his fourth goal of the season shortly after the break with a mesmerising curling effort.

And Ivan Franjic almost made it 3-0 in the 72nd minute when his long-range shot struck the upright and bounced across the face of goal.

Chances for the Jets were few and far between, but the visitors were given a sniff in the 83rd minute when the VAR was called into action to determine whether Spiranovic committed a handball in the box.

Spiranovic’s arms were tucked into his body as he spun to protect himself from a strong Ronald Vargas shot, and the VAR ruled no penalty should be awarded.

• Is it the blow that will shatter Sydney FC’s dream of a third successive Premier’s Plate trophy?

Sydney FC coach Steve Corica doesn’t think so and he might have a point, despite his team’s 2-1 loss in a rollicking game of football that was as entertaining as it was enthralling.

The result saw the Victorians leapfrog Sydney FC, who have won the past two Premier’s Plates, into second spot, a point ahead of Sydney.

Corica is not about to give up the fight after watching his side provide a real examination of the Melburnians in a second half in which they were probably unlucky not to have at least grabbed an equaliser.

“I think we deserved to win, not draw,’’ Corica said.

“The first half was pretty tight but I thought we defended well. They scored from a very good free kick from Toivonen that was world-class but, other than that, they didn’t really have any chances.

“The second half was totally different. We pressed up higher, put them under pressure and won the ball back up high.

“If we could have got that second goal maybe we would have went on and won because we had the best chances of the second half.

“It was disappointing in the end because we missed out on crucial points.

Muscat had every right to be ­effusive about his team’s performance: “The way we played, ­especially in the first 25 minutes, was outstanding and I can’t wait to get home to watch it again.’’

With AAP