Melbourne City 2 Perth Glory 3: Keogh hat-tricks decider thriller
An entertaining showdown between Perth Glory and Melbourne City was ultimately settled by Andy Keogh's treble.
Andy Keogh scored a hat-trick as Perth Glory gave up the lead twice and had manager Kenny Lowe sent to the stands at half-time in a 3-2 A-League win at Melbourne City.
The visitors led early through Keogh, who was on hand to restore their advantage after Bruno Fornaroli's penalty.
Fernando Brandan again wiped out the deficit on the hour mark, but a defensive mix-up in the 85th minute gifted Keogh his third to send Glory top.
Keogh's opener arrived just seven minutes in as a well-worked free-kick ended with Chris Harold laying on the assist.
City went in level courtesy of Fornaroli, the Uruguayan making no mistake from 12 yards out a minute before the break, having won the spot-kick following contact with Dino Djulbic inside the area.
There was an angry half-time confrontation between the Glory players and the referee, Lowe's intervention earning him a dismissal for using abusive language toward the match officials.
It failed to distract the visitors, who were ahead again four minutes into the second half when Keogh pounced from close range.
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Tim Cahill and Fornaroli combined to tee up Brandan for the second equaliser, but it was Perth who took the spoils, Keogh seizing on a poor attempt at a headed clearance from Liam Rose to chip goalkeeper Dean Bouzanis.
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