Holly McNamara has scored a classy hat-trick to lead Melbourne City to a 3-1 win over Perth Glory and shoot herself to the top of the A-League Women golden boot race.
McNamara entered Sunday's match as the one to stop after scoring an 84th-minute winner against Melbourne Victory in Tuesday's derby.
The 22-year-old was even better against Glory, scoring two first-half goals and then popping up again in the 71st minute just as Perth were threatening to snare an equaliser.
Her fourth career hat-trick marked the perfect way for McNamara to celebrate her 50-game milestone, and she now leads the golden boot race with seven goals from six games.
While McNamara was the deserved star of the show, her teammate Leah Davidson was also hugely influential with three assists.
Melbourne City's fourth win of the season lifted them into third spot on 13 points, and with plenty of games in hand on the two teams above them.
Ladder leaders Canberra (17 points) have played three more games than City, while second-placed Melbourne Victory (16 points) have played four more matches.
Glory (nine points) dropped to seventh after their two-game winning run came to a crushing end.
McNamara's Matildas career is still yet to reach any great heights due to three knee reconstructions.
But given her current form, the young gun looms as a major weapon for Australia at next year's home AFC Asian Cup, which kicks off in Perth on March 1.
McNamara looked dangerous whenever Melbourne went forward, and it didn't take long for her to cash in.
Davidson's bouncing pass through two Glory defenders set up the opening goal, with McNamara running onto the ball and taking two touches before unleashing a shot past the goalkeeper.
More disaster struck Glory in first-half stoppage time when former City defender Tijan McKenna tried to dribble the ball out of danger from her own penalty box.
Chinaza Uchendu used her physicality to steal possession and get the ball rolling to Davidson, who poked the ball to McNamara to finish the job with only the goalkeeper to beat.
Glory got a goal back in the 50th minute when Grace Johnston chased down a long ball and sent through a cross for Trew to complete an easy tap-in.
But McNamara made sure of the points in the 71st minute - and it was again thanks to an excellent defence-busting pass from Davidson.
McNamara ran onto the pass and burned off a defender before sublimely chipping the goalkeeper with the outside of her right boot.
