Shellharbour's Caitlin Foord played a starring role as Sam Kerr scored a hat-trick in Perth Glory’s 5-0 thrashing of Sydney FC at WIN Stadium on Sunday.
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Foord, who played for the Sky Blues last season, scored a stunning goal before half-time and laid on assist for Kerr’s opener in a dominant win.
The assist came just seven minutes in, after Foord picked up the ball just outside the centre circle, stood up her marker and laid the ball across to Kerr for the simplest of tap-ins.
She then bagged a goal of her own right on half-time, firing a thunderous right-foot strike from 25-yards into the bottom corner.
The perfect homecoming way rounded out in the second half when Kerr added a second and third to her tally.
‘‘They [Kerr and Foord] have been good all season, not just [on Sunday]. They fantastic players and just that pace to have up front, to attack players with, is such a blessing for a coach,’’ Glory coach Jamie Harnwell said after the match.
Kerr, who is a close friend of Foord and also played for Sydney FC last campaign, always looked dangerous throughout the match on the right flank.
After scoring her first seven minutes in, she added a second in the 56th minute when her weaving run failed to be shutdown by the Sky Blues’ defence.
Her first hat-trick was complete in the 73rd minute as her deft chip from the right corner of the box found its way into the top corner.
Kate Gill added the Glory’s only other goal midway through the first half from the penalty spot after she was pulled down in the box.
Sydney had chances of their own throughout the 90-minutes, with Amy Harrison finding the wood work 15 minutes in.
But the Glory rarely looked at risk of losing the points on a wet afternoon at WIN Stadium.
‘‘It is a tough match because technically there is nothing to play for but I think the girls have the desire and drive to do well, leading into the finals,’’ Harnwell said
‘‘I don’t think there was too much I was too worried about. I think our work rate was superb, we set the tone early, we were clinically in front of goal and moved the ball well. There was a lot of good things.’’
The Glory have already wrapped up the premiership and look poised for a deep finals campaign.
‘‘It would be huge [to do the double],’’ Harnwell said.
‘‘There are some girls who have only played the one semi-final in their whole career so we will worry about the semi-final first and hopefully we can win that so we can get a home grand final. We are looking forward to it.’’
