Perth Glory surged back into top two calculations with a convincing 3-1 win over the Football Kingz in the NSL clash at Perth Oval today.
The Glory, on the back foot following successive away losses, was never in danger after a brilliant beginning.
The victory before 9,784 fans ensured Bernd Stange's side kept the pressure on in-form pair Sydney Olympic and Wollongong at the top of ladder.
In contrast, the Kingz' loss has almost certainly terminated the Auckland club's hopes of contesting the play-offs.
Experienced wing-back Rob Trajkovski created huge problems for the Kingz and could have opened Perth's account had an excellent shot from 25 metres shaved the inside, not the outside, of the post.
Shortly after Perth went ahead 1-0 when captain Gareth Naven latched on to a perfect pass from Bobby Despotovski and rammed a left foot shot past Kingz keeper Mike Utting.
Then, three minutes later in the 23rd minute, a Jamie Harnwell bullet from outside the penalty box hit the bottom of the crossbar.
It was initially thought the ball had not crossed the goal line, but after a 10 second delay, Harnwell was credited with the goal.
Perth continued to push forward in the second period and Despotovski and Brazilian import Aurelio had chances, only to come up short.
The Kingz then broke through against the run of play when a bad defensive error allowed Aaron Silver to score in the 65th minute.
Sixty seconds later the Glory snuffed out any chance of a Kingz win when Aurelio beat Utting from the edge of the six yard box after a neat Naven pass.
Perth's win was its ninth from 13 home games this season.