Lauton stunner seals famous Western win over Glory

Joey Lynch | January 3, 2025

Perth Glory’s hopes of a rare home win at HBF Park have ended in heartbreak after one of the most spectacular goals in A-League Men history by Jordan Lauton secured a remarkable 3-2 comeback win for Western United.

As the 90 minutes expired on Friday, goals from Adam Taggart and Jarrod Carluccio had seemingly done enough for the hosts to secure the three points, 321 days after their last league win at the venue 

But a minute into added time, Tate Russell popped up the back post to poke home a United equaliser and set the stage for Lauton to etch his name in folklore in the 95th minute.

Angus Thurgate’s cross trailed just behind Lauton’s run into the box, but the 21-year-old adjusted as he launched himself into the air and connected with a spectacular bicycle kick, finding the bottom corner of the net and sending the visitors into bedlam. 

Already on a yellow card, the youngster then took off his shirt as he celebrated his first-ever senior goal, earning him a second yellow card and marching orders.

Now riding a three-game winning run, John Aloisi’s side added to what is now a five-way logjam of sides ranked second through sixth on the table sitting on 18 points. The win put them fifth, ahead of Melbourne Victory on goal difference. 

Their three points having become none in the space of minutes, Glory remain second-bottom of the league, with just a single win – against bottom-placed Brisbane – all season. 

Opening the scoring via Taggart’s 50th goal for his hometown side in the 29th minute, Glory had responded well to United equalising through Matthew Grimaldi’s three minutes later and looked to have seen off the Western threat heading into added time. 

But Aloisi’s side found a spectacular way to get their coach a win in his 100th game in charge of the club.