A-League Women: Millie Farrow’s hat-trick leads Perth Glory to 3-1 win over Melbourne City

A Millie Farrow hat-trick has returned Perth Glory to the top of the A-League Women’s table after they downed league-leaders Melbourne City 3-1 at Genis Steel Stadium. After falling behind early to Hannah Wilkinson’s first-half header, Farrow levelled the scores against the run of play with a well-taken finish. The English striker then struck again after half-time to give Perth the lead, and with City throwing everything at the Glory, Farrow finished off a nice counter-attack to seal her hat-trick and three points. After no wins from their last two games, the victory over City lifted Perth to equal on points with their Melbourne rivals, but with an advantage on goal difference. In wet, wintery conditions more akin to the middle of the year than December, the Glory were under the pump early and unable to get their foot on the ball, despite City missing key players Rebekah Stott and Julia Grosso. But while City dominated possession, they could not create many chances in the opening quarter of an hour, and Isobel Dalton almost opened the scoring for Perth with a long-range shot which almost caught out Lysianne Proulx in goals. However, Wilkinson did give the hosts the lead 17 minutes in when she connected with Perth product Tijan McKenna’s cross and her header looped over Morgan Aquino and into the net via the underside of the bar. The Glory looked to be chasing lost causes and hopeful long balls, but they got a break in the 33rd minute when Hana Lowry won the ball in City’s half and Quinley Quezada fed Farrow, who rounded Proulx and steered home. Leticia McKenna almost gave away a penalty for what looked to be a foul on Farrow just before half-time, but the referee waved away the appeal. But Farrow had her revenge six minutes after half-time when Liz Anton’s superb solo run ended in the Kiwi picking out the Englishwoman who slid her shot home to give Perth the lead. Tempers flared at times for both sides with a total of five yellow cards dished out – including one to Glory coach Alex Epakis. City threw players forward desperately, but with 20 minutes to play, Farrow streaked past Karly Roestbakken to chase down a long ball, before coolly rounding Proulx for the second time in the game to complete her hat-trick.