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Tomi Juric experienced the rare accomplishment of scoring a hat-trick of penalties in Adelaide United’s 3-2 win over Central Coast Mariners on Friday night.
It was the first time he had scored three goals in an A-League game.
Juric became the fifth Reds player to score an A-League hat-trick and the first since Sergio Cirio achieved the feat in February 2014.
Nikola Mileusnić also bagged a treble during Adelaide’s FFA Cup campaign in 2017 against Heidelberg United.
“It’s in unusual fashion, three penalties is something you don’t see very often,” he told reporters at Grange Beach following a recovery session.
“But I had to get that done as well and for me personally it’s a good milestone and hopefully I can build on this.”
The 29-year-old admitted it was an eventful encounter with drama at every turn, but the striker was pleased his side importantly managed to snap a three-game losing streak.
“It was definitely crazy circumstances the way we got our three points,” Juric said, who now has four goals for the campaign.
“But nevertheless, for us right now, three points was really crucial.”
Juric appeared to limp off in the final minute of proceedings with a groin issue but was quick to allay qualms it was a serious injury, confident he will be fit next weekend.
“It’s much better,” he said.
“It just felt a little tingling after there was one action in the second-half after the third penalty and hopefully it’s nothing major but we’ll see how it goes in the next couple of days.”
While the Reds’ home form has been solid collecting three victories and one loss, their performances on the road have been subpar.
United travel to Sydney to tackle the Western Sydney Wanderers next Saturday, and Juric said it was time they produced a strong display outside of Coopers Stadium.
“It’s something we need to work on going away from home and performing as well,” he continued.
“I think that’s what concerns me and the team more than us at home because obviously we’ve shown throughout the last few games when we’ve played at home we can do well.
“Now it’s up to us to really pull our socks up and play away with some quality.”
Next match details:
Game date: Saturday, 27 February vs Western Sydney Wanderers
A-League 2020/21 – Matchweek 10
Kick-off 4.35pm ACDT
Venue: Bankwest Stadium
Broadcast: Fox Sports, ABC
Stream: Kayo Sports, MyFootball Live App
