Inglewood United scored back-to-back wins for the first time this year with a gritty 2-1 defeat of an experienced Perth Glory outfit at Ashfield Reserve.   A long-range bomb from Ellis Healing and Alex Salmon’s tidy finish move Inglewood to within touching distance of the National Premier Leagues top five.

“We’ve been knocking on the door but we suffered some niggles and we haven’t had everyone up to speed with injuries to key players.  But we’ve got everyone back now,” said coach Andy Keogh, whose squad faces another tough challenge at home on Wednesday night in the form of Perth SC.

“I left out a couple of players today who probably shouldn’t have been left out; with three games this week it’s great to have the quality (of depth) to do that.   They (Glory) were at full strength, they asked a lot of questions, they had a few chances but I think we had our fair share of chances … I’m delighted it all came off.”

An open first half had chances come and go at both ends of the park.   Inglewood’s best opening came via Brian Farrell’s superb through ball which Salmon placed too close to goalkeeper Jackson Lee.   Daniel Stynes squandered a golden chance to get Glory on the scoreboard by stabbing wide from a good position.

The deadlock wasn’t broken until after the interval, Healing clipping over Jackson Lee from 30-metres after spotting the Glory custodian off the line.   Glory went in search of a quick reply and they would have had one if not for Dunn, who brilliantly denied Chok Dau and Jake Brimmer in quick succession.

But there was little Dunn could do on 68 minutes when Stynes combined with Jacob Italiano to bring the teams back to level terms.   It took Inglewood all of five minutes to reclaim the lead, Salmon angling low past Lee on the end of an exquisite exchange of passes between substitutes Jason Barrera and Brian Woodall.

Match stats

Perth Glory 1 (Daniel Stynes 68)
Inglewood United 2 (Ellis Healing 52, Alex Salmon 73)

Perth Glory: Jackson Lee, Walter Scott, Sam Riak, Luca Bodnar, Ollie Annis, Brandon Wilson (Henry Hore 79), Callum Timmins (Jacob Italiano 67), Jake Brimmer, Daniel Stynes, Yacoub Mustafa (Chok Dau 67), Joseph Knowles

Inglewood United: Alex Dunn, Alex Ishida-Livings, Connor Becsi, David Cyrus, Jamie Murphy, Brian Farrell, Miki Vujacic, Hanafi Ghazali (Jason Barrera 59), Ellis Healing (Feisal Zaw 85), Kenny Keogh (Brian Woodall 66), Alex Salmon

Bookings: Cyrus (21), Keogh (66)

Dismissals: Nil