A crowd of 3039, which included a sizeable number of Glory supporters on the 'Tour of Duty', attended the Sydney United Sports Centre to witness an absorbing and pulsating game of football as Perth finally shut the door on Sydney United's hope for finals football.
The result means that the final 6 have now been confirmed and next weekend's matches will just be about positioning.
However this was no pushover for Perth as United showed tremendous courage and endeavor to push the Premiers all the way. Indeed it was not until a break away goal to complete Mrdja's hat trick deep in injury time that Glory could actually relax.
Up to that time United were very much in the game with an exciting 2nd half performance that twice saw them give themselves a finals lifeline by reducing 2 goal leads and pressing for an equaliser.
The game had started with United playing the better football against a very strange looking Glory outfit. Damian Mori normally the no.1 striker for Glory found himself playing in the centre of defence with Murphy. To say that Mori enjoyed himself would be an understatement as even a clash of heads early in the first stanza that required much bandaging throughout the game failed to slow the player down.
Glory also rested some of their other star players in Pondeljak, Petkovic, Harnwell, Bingley, Faria and Despotovski for this match and gave first up starting 11 spots to Matassa, Packer and Sharland.
However the first chance of the game fell to United and it was Beldham who missed from close range in the 3rd minute. Just 13 minutes later it was North raiding down the left who set up Shroj, who was returning from injury, but Reddy was able to save easily.
In the 22nd minute it was again Beldham who had the chance following great approach work by Heffernan but he was again unable to get a clean shot on goal.
In the 27th minute Mrdja showed the United player just how to score when he latched onto a poor attempted clearance by Vrkic and from 25 metres connected superbly to give Reddy no chance and put Glory 1 up.
The lead was doubled in the 41st minute when Shroj made a great break through before chipping the ball perfectly into the path of Mrdja and the big striker for the second time in the match gave the United keeper absolutely no chance.
In the final seconds before half time United should have scored as the had a number of chances inside the Glory area but a mixture of great goalkeeping by Matassa and a desperate goal line clearance by Coyne saved the day for Glory.
Early in the 2nd half Caceres went on a dazzling run that left 4 defenders in his wake before squaring the ball for Sharland, but the striker somehow failed to finish the move off.
That was to be Glory's last chance for some time as United started to take control and created a string of chances from Santalab and Haliti as well as Parisi. But they were to no avail as both Matassa and the Glory woodwork prevented a score.
However in the 68th minute they did get some reward. United were awarded a dubious free kick on the left and Santalab noticed Matassa was in no mans land and cleverly chipped the ball home at the near post.
But if that piece of ingenuity by Santalab was good then what Hassell did 1 minute later was just Divine. It all started when Ward, who had come on for Sharland, was brought down 30 metres out. With United protesting and trying to form a wall, the Glory midfielder wasted no time in firing the ball all the way to the back of the net.
That should have been the final nail in the finals coffin but United refused to lie down and after 78 minutes Parisi raced to the Glory By-line before crossing to the far post where Heffernan was waiting and he placed the ball neatly into the back of the net.
Try as they might after that, United just could not get the equaliser and indeed it was Mrdja who completed his hat trick with the final break way goal in the 92nd minute.
Another good win and indeed workout for Glory and it allowed their so called 2nd string a chance to show their talents. In fact it will make it very interesting for coach d'Avray next week when he looks at his forward set up. The question will have to be asked if he can possibly drop a player who has just scored an away hat trick. It will be a very similar situation to the Knights game earlier this season, with the only difference this time being that Mori was playing and played well albeit in defence.