In front of 8903 supporters at Perth Oval today Damian Mori showed just why he is still the best centre forwards in the NSL as he brought his seasons tally to 12 and his all time tally to 197 goals.
The difference between the 2 sides was the performances of Glory players at both ends of the field, with man of the match Jason Petkovic excelling in goals and Mori lethal in attack.
However Glory did not have it all their own way, as for the first 40 minutes Marconi gave as good as they got and if it was not for the Glory custodian they could easily have been ahead before the first Glory goal. As early as the 6th minute Petkovic had to be on his game as he saved smartly from a strike by Last and again in the 30th minute he came to Glory's rescue when once more Last was through one on one with him, but he saved the ball with his feet.
In the 2nd minute following good work by both Faria and Gumprecht first Mrdja had a shot blocked and then Millers shot through the crowded goalmouth was well saved by Turnbull in the Marconi goal. Turnbull was beaten in the 23rd minute by a Mori header but the goal was disallowed for offside.
However there was no doubting the Mori strike in the 40th minute when he gathered possession some 30 metres from goal following neat work by Hassell and then set off for goal, holding off the challenges of 2 Marconi defenders before superbly beating the Marconi keeper from just inside the box. The lead flattered Glory and they doubled it on the stroke of half time when a free kick by Miller on the right was headed home by Mori with the Marconi keeper stranded.
Just 4 minutes into the 2nd half and Mori had the ball in the net for the 4th time but for the 2nd time it was disallowed for off side. There then followed a period of Marconi supremacy during which Petkovic showed just why his coach considers him the best goalkeeper in the league. In the 54th minute he again thwarted Last and in the 65th brilliantly tipped over a shot from McDonald.
However it was all over in the 80th minute when 2 Glory substitutes combined to set up Mori for his hat trick. Despotovski played a brilliant ball through to Horsley who made great ground to the by-line before pulling the ball back into the centre where a half clearance was headed home with pleasure by Mori.
So Glory produced an early Christmas present for their fans and they did look really dangerous when they eventually got to the by-line and pulled the ball back.
The game featured the return from injury of Jamie Harnwell and he will have benefited by the 80 minutes he got. However one of the biggest cheers of the day was reserved for the arrival on the ground of Matt Horsley and the ever popular midfielder showed in his 18 minutes of play just how good he is.