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Adelaide United have shored up sixth spot in the A-League with a 5-3 win over fifth-placed Perth in Sydney.
A devastating four-goal first-half blitz has propelled Adelaide United to a stunning 5-3 win over fellow A-League finals aspirants Perth Glory in Sydney..
Adelaide consolidated sixth spot, pulling four points clear of seventh-placed Western United who have played three games less.
United moved level on points with fifth-placed Perth, who have a better goal difference and have played one game less than Adelaide.
Adelaide exploited some uncharacteristic sloppiness in Glory's defensive work as Perth conceded five in the A-League for the first time in coach Tony Popovic's tenure and slumped to successive losses.,
The win made it seven points out of nine for Adelaide since the competition restarted and Carl Veart took over as interim coach after Gertjan Verbeek.returned to the Netherlands in April.
The Glory looked the livelier side in the early stages, but their early shooting opportunities were either blocked or off target.
Adelaide missed a glorious chance to open the scoring when Riley McGree had a penalty saved by LIam Reddy after Jacob Tratt was judged to have fouled Ben Halloran.
It proved a brief reprieve for Perth, who never recovered after conceding two goals in as many minutes.
Defender Michael Jacobsen triggered the Adelaide goal avalanche with a header from a perfectly delivered inswinging corner form Taras Gomulka.
Lachlan Brook quickly added a second, sweeping in a pass from the outstanding Kristian Opseth, who drew three defenders after Adelaide punished Perth for losing possession.
'It took us a little bit to get into the game and after we missed the penalty, we lifted and we played some great football in that last 30 minutes of the first half," Veart said,
"Very happy with the way the boys played and the work that they put in in that first half was fantastic,
"That's what we're looking for and that's what we've been asking for the players, to show that character and that fight."
Glory briefly stemmed the tide with Kristain Popovic finished well after trapping a Neil Kilkenny cross.
But five minutes later Adelaide restored their two-goal advantage with Opseth heading into an empty net after an ineffective punch by Reddy from another Gomulka corner..
Adelaide scored a fourth on the stroke of half-time when Opseth released Ben Halloran, whose shot deflected off Osama Malik into the net.
Glory made a positive start to the second half but couldn't turn chances into goals
Substitute Pacifique Niyongabire, the brother of Melbourne Victory's Elvis Kamsoba, made it 5-1 when he stepped past a defender and lashed the ball into the net for his first A-League goal..
Perth pulled two goals back in the final stages.
Bruno Fornaroli netted in the 73rd minute and Juande put away a penalty ten minutes later after Ryan Kitto fouled substitute Jake Brimmer.
"We got punished for mistakes, we gave away two goals from corners so it wasn't defensively a good night," Tony Popovic said.
"Our opponent punished us for the gifts we gave them tonight."
