Report by Aisling Lawless

Lawrence Shuruma made Perth Glory history on Saturday when he became the club’s first goalscorer in the inaugural National Premier Leagues WA season.

Shuruma, playing his first game for the club, gave Glory a 20th-minute lead before Friday Zico equalised for Perth SC in a 1-1 draw at Intiga Stadium.

“It’s something exciting for me,” Shuruma said. “It’s like part of the history books or something and it’s my first game for Glory, so it feels quite good.”

Glory coach Scott Miller said Perth were a tough nut to crack but he was very pleased with the way his team had played.

“The boys really stepped up in their first game against the big boys today and we were rapt with the way we knocked the ball around,” he said.

“Today we had enough possession to create more chances but they are new boys getting used to each other so we’ll work on that.”

Glory were first to threaten just three minutes in when Harry O’Brien crossed to Riley Woodcock, whose shot flew over the crossbar.

The pressure paid off when Glory hit the front. Left-back Hanafi Ghazli found Shuruma in space in the penalty area after an unchallenged run down the wing and, despite Perth keeper Alex Dunn’s efforts to close down the shot, Shuruma found the back of the net.

An appeal for a penalty by Woodcock in the 42nd minute was dismissed by the referee just three minutes before Perth equalised.

James Marocchi, who was praised by coach Taki Nicolaidis as one of the standout players, created the opportunity with an important interception and Zico finished it off with an impressive left foot half-volley.

Despite both sides having struggled to dominate, Nicolaidis was disappointed his team had not taken three points.

“That was our intention and it’s always good to start the season with a win,” he said.

“We had a couple a half-chances there at the end where we should have done better and that’s the difference between winning and losing sometimes.”

An improvement on finishing in the final third will be a focus point in preparation for next week’s match against Nicolaidis’ old side Floreat Athena.

“If you don’t score goals, you don’t win games,” he said.

Perth Glory 1 (Lawrence SHURUMA 20’)
Perth Soccer Club 1 (Friday ZICO 45’)
Saturday, March 8, 2014
Intiga Stadium, Inglewood
Kick-off: 3pm
Referee: Matthew Southern
Assistant referees: Tim Mihevc, Zach Piccicacco
Crowd: 350 approx.

Perth Glory: 1. Fraser GREENWOOD (gk), 2. Hanafi GHAZLI, 3. Scott ROBERTSON, 4. Jack OLDHAM, 5. Rocco PIZZATA, 6.Blamo QUAQUA (c), 7. Riley WOODCOCK, 8. Cameron EDWARDS, 9. Joseph KNOWLES, 10. Lawrence SHURUMA, (16. GIAN ALBANO 79'), 17. Harry O’BRIEN, (18. Josh TUCKER)
Substitutes not used: 11. Slobodan VULIN, 19. Sean TROUP, 20. Ryan Baker
Yellow cards: Josh TUCKER 90+1’
Red cards: Nil

Perth Soccer Club: 2. Josh WILKINS, 3. Luka NJEGICH, 4. Craig SIMPSON, 8. Aden DA LUZ, 9. Friday ZICO, 10. Ashley ROSINDALE, 11. Robert SCIASCIA, 14. Mark PRITCHARD, 19. Andreas THEODOSIADES, 20. James MAROCCHI, 23. Alex DUNN (12. Tim ROBERTSON 61’) (15. Mark DONINGER 56’)
Substitutes not used: 1. Domenico SAVOLDELLI (gk), 21. Jarrod BELFORD, 16. Nicholas ABROGIO.
Yellow cards: Mark PRITCHARD 26’
Red cards: Nil