Lachie Wales was the star of the show as Western United recorded its biggest ever win on Saturday night, thrashing Perth Glory 6-0 at UTAS Stadium.
Wales had been without a goal until United’s trip to Tasmania and filled his boots early, with all three goals coming in the first half.
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The treble is the first of Wales’ young career, and United’s No.8 said he would be passing the match ball straight on.
“I’ll probably give it to the old man – he’ll be loving that, so I’ll give it to him,” he said.
The Olyroo has shone in recent weeks without putting his name on the scoresheet and admitted it was a weight off his shoulders to see the net bulging again.
“Yeah it’s definitely a relief, but I think my performances have been good. All the goals are for the team, I don’t care who scores them as long as we’re near that top (of the table), that’s all that matters to me,” he said.
This game has continued a strong run of form from Wales in recent weeks, with man of the match displays in consecutive games against Brisbane Roar and Central Coast Mariners at the end of March and beginning of April.
Wales now has the three goals now to go along with five assists, equaling his most productive season in the A-League Men, and the 24-year-old feels he his reaching the top of game heading into the end of the season.
“Definitely, I think it’s the first time I’ve played multiple games in my career, so to have the trust from the boss and the coaching staff to play me every week for 90 minutes is really making me develop into a better player. It’s been great, and to have a great bunch of boys is awesome,” he said.
On the performance as a whole, Wales was delighted that the team was able to respond to a disappointing defeat against Wellington Phoenix last week to maintain the challenge at the top of the league.
“It was a good result after the poor result last week. To come back to Tassie, it’s a top surface and we played really well tonight,” he said.
“They (Perth Glory) had some young boys there but they played well, and we put them to the sword there which is a good result for us.”
Western United now turns its attention to a short turnaround to close the 2022 Macca’s Festival of Football, with a big fixture against Macarthur FC at UTAS Stadium on Tuesday April 19.
