North Queensland Fury came from behind to defeat Perth Glory 2-1 at Dairy Farmers Stadium on Saturday night.
North Queensland-s Robbie Fowler scored in the 65th minute from sneaky free kick while defender-s backs were turned before Dyron Daal curved a stunning left-foot shot in the 71st minute into the top left of the goal.
Perth-s Victor Sikora slotted home a precision pass in the 24th minute to give his side a first half lead.
It is the first home win of the season for the Fury and only second of the season taking them off the bottom of the ladder while for the Glory it is back to back losses.
North Queensland coach Ian Ferguson said the win was a long-time coming after a run of draws and losses.
“I am absolutely delighted, it was long time coming, but to get he result tonight was fantastic, especially when the chips were down,” he said.
“It was the same old story, the ball looking like it was out and the boys stopped playing, I was ready to scream at the linesman and the next thing the ball is in the net.”
“To come up with two fantastic goals, Fowler being so quick to put the ball into the net … it was sensational.”
“It was a never-racking last 20 minutes for me.”
“It is a huge boost for us (moving off the bottom of the ladder), for the last few weeks we have had the opportunity but we didn-t take it.”
Perth Glory coach David Mitchell said his side was outplayed but rued the Fowler goal.
“I think it has been building (the win), I said before that North Queensland have be looking very good at home and tonight they played very well and deserved to win,” he said.
“It was disappointing to have a 1-0 lead and then conceded a goal off a free kick.”
“They (Fury) deserved to win, they fought well and had a quite a few players missing from their team and they came at us and caused all sorts of problems.”
Perth almost scored what would have been a spectacular goal in the 4th minute when a series of crosses eventually found Branko Jelic-s forehead but the striker-s header struck the crossbar.
North Queensland almost hit back with its own piece of brilliance in the 16th minute when Fowler let lose from 20 metres out but the shot grazed the top of the net.
Jelic barged past lazy marking in the 24th minute before delivering a precision pass to Sikora to slot home first goal.
Jason Spagnuolo charged down the left wing in the 33rd minute before curving a cross into a lunging James Robinson but chipped the ball over the net.
The Glory went on the offence straight after the break when a through ball to Jelic out wide but his cross could not find one player in a line of attackers.
The Fury was gifted an opportunity when a back-pass was cut off by David Williams but the forward could not step around the last defender to get a shot away.
Fowler levelled the scores in the 65th minute with a sneaky free kick from the 18-yard box while defender-s backs were turned.
Daal put the hosts ahead in the 71st minute when he turned a defender around in the box and launched a stunning left foot shot into the top left of the net.
North Queensland Fury 2
(Fowler 65, Daal 71)
Perth Glory 1
(Sikora 24,)
Crowd 6,332 at Dairy Farmers Stadium
