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On what was a record breaking weekend for the A-League attendance wise, 8789 people were at nib Stadium to witness the striker head home a late Scott Jamieson corner.
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“I think I said at the beginning of the year that we looked to recruit people with character, who are a bit blue collar; we’ve done that,” said Coach Kenny Lowe afterwards.
“We’ve got characters and it’s shining through at the moment, long may it continue.”
A dour first half never really got going until six minutes before the interval when Kurtisi finished well at the near post from Henrique’s low cross.
Lowe made a switch at half time, replacing the largely anonymous Nebojsa Marinkovic with last week’s match winner Jamie Maclaren, and Glory settled into a 4-4-2 formation with a flat midfield.
“Macca’s come back from preseason I think six kilos lighter, beat all of his records with our testing, you’ve got to take your hat off to the boy,” said Lowe of Maclaren.
“He knew we were out to sign players, there’s been speculation all along that we’re looking for another forward. I think we might have found one and he might have been with us for a while.”
Keogh looked much more comfortable with an out-and-out striker alongside him and on 49 minutes he won a penalty after being taken down in the penalty area by Jade North.
The Irishman picked himself up to calmly roll the ball past Jamie Young who dived the wrong way.
The visitors’ response was almost instant though as Henrique made it 2-1, taking advantage of the acres of space he was afforded by Glory's defence to blast an effort into the top corner.
“Ricky has been in sparkling form and the reason he didn’t start last week was because he missed a little bit of training so we put him on the bench,” said Roar boss Mike Mulvey in his post-match press conference.
“It doesn’t matter where we put Ricky, he can be an impact player for us off the bench or in the starting line-up. He made one and scored one, and put in a fantastic shift today.”
There was an element of good fortune about Keogh’s second goal on 74 minutes as his left foot shot looked to be heading wide before it struck James Donachie and wrong footed Young before rolling into the net.
After some debate over whether the effort should go down as an own goal, Donachie’s second in successive weeks, the referee’s match report confirmed it as Keogh’s.
The 28-year-old wasn’t done yet though and rose unmarked to head in the winner, sending the Glory supporters into raptures.
Despite being on the receiving end of that late goal, Mike Mulvey was full of praise for Keogh and described his signing as “a great feather in the A-League’s cap”.
“He’s a good addition, he scored a goal last week, scored three this week and he’s hard to stop,” said Mulvey.
“He’s a good focal point for them.”
One of Glory’s standout performers on the day was right back Josh Risdon who has put last season’s injury and fitness problems behind him and did an excellent job marking Thomas Broich.
“The way Rizzo handled him was I thought one of the best performances I’ve ever seen the kid have, and I’ve known him since he was about 13,” said Lowe.
The 22-year-old, who set up Glory’s second goal, was replaced by Diogo Ferreira late on after rolling an ankle but Lowe is hopeful that it isn't too serious.
In other injury news, midfielder Ruben Zadkovich has almost recovered from a minor back issue and could face Melbourne Victory in the FFA Cup quarter finals on October 29.
The Roar have a short turnaround before their next fixture at home to Sydney FC on Friday but Mulvey isn’t panicking despite failing to pick up any points from their opening two league games.
“I’m very comfortable, I know as a club we’re on the right track, I know as a playing group we’re on the right track and I’ve got supreme confidence in the group of players in there that we’ll start winning games,” he said.
Perth Glory starting XI: 1. Daniel VUKOVIC, 5. Rostyn GRIFFITHS, 6. Dino DJULBIC, 7. Youssouf HERSI, 9. Andrew KEOGH, 10. Nebojsa MARINKOVIC, 11. Richard GARCIA, 17. Mitchell NICHOLS, 19. Joshua RISDON, 21. Scott JAMIESON, 23. Michael THWAITE.
Subs: 2. Jack CLISBY, 3. Brandon O’NEILL, 13. Diogo FERREIRA, 15. Jamie MACLAREN, 30. Jordan THURTELL.
Brisbane Roar starting XI: 21. Jamie YOUNG, 2. Matthew SMITH, 3. Shane STEFANUTTO, 7. Mensur KURTISI, 8. Steven LUSTICA, 10. HENRIQUE, 13. Jade NORTH, 15. James DONACHIE, 18. Luke BRATTAN, 22. Thomas BROICH, 23. Dimitri PETRATOS.
Subs: 11. Liam MILLER, 12. Jean Carlos SOLORZANO, 19. Jack HINGERT, 20. Kofi DANNING, 30. Matthew ACTON.