Perth Glory made it 5 straight wins at home and 3 straight at the Members Equity Stadium following a 2 - 0 victory in the Grand final rematch. A crowd of 9005 witnessed 2 second half goals from centre half Shaun Murphy, to send the Glory back to the top of the league table by 2 points and with a game in hand.
Tonight's win sets up next weeks blockbuster against Parramatta Power as a definite League clinching match, as if Glory could beat Power next week they would stretch their lead to 5 points with a game in hand. However the Perth side will need a big improvement on tonight's effort to be assured of that victory.
While the defense was again solid it was the midfield who appeared off target tonight. Striker Nick Mrdja should have done enough to retain his spot in next weeks lineup as his hard work and brilliant holding of the ball were one of the highlights of the match.
The Glory did appear to miss the thrust of Jade North raiding on the right hand side of the ground which meant that Tom Pondeljak did not have the same freedom to move as in previous weeks. Once more though Pondeljak showed his class on a number of occasions with deft touches and a superb run and cross for Murphy's first goal.
The game started with Glory on the offensive and after 3 minutes Pondeljak released Coyne on the right, his cross was hit over the bar by Hassell.
In the 6th minute a short corner from Despotovski found Pondeljak on the edge of the penalty, he turned sharply and hit a fine shot low to the near post but Olympic keeper Brett Hughes got down well to the ball and grabbed it at the second attempt.
In the 14th minute both Despotovski and Goutzioulis were lucky to be left on the pitch and only receive yellow cards from referee Nardi, when Despotovski was high with studs showing into Goutzioulis's stomach and the latter retaliated.
After 18 minutes Petkovic hit a long hopeful clearance into the Olympic half and Mrdja did very well to hold off the defenders but unfortunately his shot went wide.
In the 28th minute Coyne chased a ball well to the bye line, pulled it back into the penalty area where Mrdja turned sharply on the ball and fired a great shot towards the left hand corner of the net, only for Hughes to pull off a top class save.
Just a minute later it was Despotovski crossing the ball, Mrdja again got a shot on target but it rebounded off a defender straight to Faria who took the ball under control before unleashing a fierce drive that again deflected over the bar off Juric for a corner.
In the 40th minute Byrnes cleared his lines with a ball to release Coyne down the right wing, he carried the ball before crossing into the penalty area where Mrdja's header was saved once more by Hughes.
At half time Glory replaced the injured Miller with Caceras. Just 1 minute into the 2nd half a free kick from 30 meters by Despotovski was met superbly by Mrdja but to his and the crowds agony the ball rebounded off the crossbar and was eventually cleared.
Six minutes later some great interchange between Coyne and Caceras finished with Despotovski in the clear but from 10 meters out he shot straight at Hughes who saved easily.
In the 55th minute Olympic won a free kick 25 meters out and it was cleverly taken by ex-Glory player Troy Halpin who chipped the ball into the path of Baird but his spectacular scissors kick sailed over the bar.
Ten minutes after this free kick it was Glory's ex-Olympic midfield maestro who showed true class with a superb ball straight onto Mrdja's left foot, and the big striker did not even have to change pace before unleashing a solid drive that was brilliantly blocked over the bar by Hughes.
Just 2 minutes later it was Coyne, Faria and Pondeljak combining on the right before Pondeljak rolled the ball into Hassell's path but the midfielder shot over the bar.
The goal the match so desperately needed eventually came in the 76th minute when following a cleared Despotovski corner the ball was picked up by Pondeljak who raced through the centre before firing a pin point cross onto the back post and the head of Murphy who proceeded to bury the ball diagonally into the corner of the net.
If the crowd thought that this goal would kill off Olympic, then they were to be sadly disappointed as within 2 minutes it was Baird raiding down the left hand side before crossing into the penalty area. What followed was probably 5 seconds of madness as the ball bobbled around Glory's six yard box with Glory trying to clear the ball and Olympic trying to get a final touch before Goutzioulis struck the ball goalwards and past Petkovic only for the goal scoring hero Murphy to clear the ball for a corner.
Glory learned from that escape and surged onto the attack, and in the 80th minute Despotovski released a long ball towards Mrdja, where the striker controlled the ball well before he released Mori into goal, the substitute in turn squared the ball into the penalty area to an unmarked Caceras, but unfortunately although he beat the goalkeeper with his shot he was unable to beat the left hand post and the ball rebounded back into play to keep the Olympic side in the match.
But that in itself was to be a false hope for the visitors because in the 84th minute following another cleared Despotovski corner, this time back to the taker, who controlled it well first time before this time crossing to the far or right hand post where Murphy again buried the ball diagonally this time into the left corner of the net.
So Perth scored their 12th goal in 3 matches since moving to their new stadium with only a dubious penalty scored against them.
I am sure though that in 7 days time the test will be the sternest of all the matches played in Perth this season with the arrival of Parramatta Power and the ex-Glory players Gumprecht and Colosimo. Hopefully the stadium will be packed for this mouth watering match.