In front of a poor Fathers day crowd of just 7,229 at the MES Perth Glory produced one of their best performances since the start of the A-League, to beat Central Coast Mariners by 2 goals to nil.
Without doubt a couple of more performances like this from the Perth team will have the crowds rolling back into the stadium before the end of the season.
Before the start of the game, The Mariners had a scare when Andrew Clarke had to have a very late fitness test. He assured the doctor and coaching staff he was fine, however as it transpired he only lasted 13 minutes before he had to be replaced by Damian Brown.
As early as the 2nd minute Glory had their first chance when Sekulovski got a cross in from the right but Lazaridis header was weak and easily saved by Vukovic. Again in the 29th minute it was the former Birmingham player who had the chance to shoot, when livewire Leo Bertos's cross was half cleared and landed with Lazaridis, but this time his shot was tame and easily cleared off the Mariners line.
In the 38th minute it was young Glory keeper Vrteski who was tested when a long clearance from Vidmar found Kwasnik on the edge of the 6 meter box and he turned sharply to fire an on target shot at the Glory goal, however Vrteski did magnificently to tip the ball over the bar for a corner.
Deep in injury time in the first half came the best chance of the game, as Sekulovski scampered into the penalty area and pulled the ball back across the face of the goal to Lazaridis, but again his shot failed to hit the target and rolled back to Sekulovski who skied the ball high and wide.
The first half had certainly belonged to Glory without any real reward.
In the 48th minute Lazaridis crossed from the left and Young's header was easily saved by Vukovic. At this stage Glory were piling on the pressure and The Mariners did not appear to have any answer. It seemed just a matter of time before the goal to Glory would come, but when it did, it was in sensational fashion. Lazaridis made one of his stunning runs at the Mariners defense before O'Grady brought him down about 25 meters from goal. As the Mariners defense and goalkeeper were marshalling the wall, Colosimo walked up and bent the ball into the back of the net with Vukovic standing at the opposite post. Despite the Mariners protests referee Zetter signaled for the goal and Glory were in front.
On 61 minutes Lazaridis nearly made it 2 as his cross from the right eluded all the defense and Vukovic did well to get a hand to it and push it round the post. In the 79th minute a long Glory clearance was headed on by Bertos into the [path of Young, he slipped by his marker before heading into the penalty area, unfortunately for him his finishing shot hit the side netting instead of the back of the net.
The mariners relief was short lived though as just 2 minutes later, Colosimo fired a great 40 meter pass to Bertos, he controlled the ball before firing in a great cross to the penalty spot where an unattended Young met the ball on the volley and fired it under the body of Vukovic fore the 2nd and clinching goal.
From there to the end of the match Glory were in total control.
Coach Ron Smith was delighted after the match with the team performance.