Perth Glory have emphasised their finals’ credentials in a 2-0 win over fellow challenger Wellington in an incident-packed Friday night affair at ME Bank Stadium that also saw Eugene Dadi miss a penalty on his return to Perth.
The Glory’s Daniel McBreen and Todd Howarth both scored before half-time to set up the result as Wellington struggled to convert its chances in front of goal.
But the biggest culprit was former Glory man Dadi as he looked to make a statement to previous coach Dave Mitchell.
Dadi had the chance to reduce the deficit in the 73rd minute when he stepped up to the spot, but could only shoot the ball gently into Tando Velaphi’s disbelieving grasp.
The result sees Perth climb into fifth position on the Hyundai A-League table, all but securing its maiden finals’ position as it climbs six points above the bottom four teams after the seventh-placed Mariners could only manage a 1-1 draw with Gold Coast earlier in the night. Wellington now drops to sixth.
The Glory, though, produced their first chance just 30 seconds after kick-off as the re-jigged line-up featuring a strike combination of McBreen and Andrija Jukic immediately clicked.
But despite the frantic opening pace, the intensity soon dropped as both sides struggled to string together fluent passes, although their efforts weren’t helped by some fussy refereeing from Ryan Shepheard.
Although it was hardly end-to-end stuff, the Phoenix dominated the opening 20 minutes but failed to capitalise on their opportunities. A dangerous corner from Leo Bertos in the second minute passed through the box without a touch, while both Tim Brown and Paul Ifill sent efforts wide.
The home crowd soon had something to cheer about, though, when Steven McGarry won a 50-50 ball in midfield, slipping it out to Naum Sekulovski whose searching ball found McBreen in the box.
The former-Fury man did well to chest it down before stepping inside Andrew Durante and rifling the ball home to give the Glory the lead.
Amidst the Glory’s celebration Dadi was booked for dissent and the big Frenchman was fortunate to stay on the park when he lunged in at Jacob Burns just before half-time.
Referee Shepheard appeared about to give Dadi a second yellow but instead opted for a word of caution instead.
But the goal still seemed to take the wind from Wellington’s sails and it was only a matter of time before Perth added to the lead, the Glory finding the back of the net once again four minutes before the break.
Jamie Coyne took the ball on the right, taking advantage of a slip from Phoenix defender Troy Hearfield before delivering a sensational cross that Howarth emphatically finished at the far post.
Four minutes after the break, Phoenix stopper Liam Reddy did well to deny McBreen from a one-on-one and the missed chance seemed to fire Wellington as they enjoyed their best spell of the game.
But once again, the visitors couldn’t make the most of their chances as Hearfield saw a 53rd-minute effort beaten away by Velaphi before the defender cracked one over the bar ten minutes later.
In the 69th minute, Hearfield saw a glancing header slide past the upright before tempers spilled over just moments later.
The drama started when second-half Perth substitute Scott Bulloch dragged down Hearfield. As referee Shepheard pointeed to the spot, an altercation between Wellington’s Brown and Naum Sekulovski almost led to a melee.
But with tempers calmed it was time for former Glory man Eugene Dadi to shine from the spot. Unfortunately for the 36-year-old, he delivered one of the worst penalties seen this season, a proppy run seeing him off balance as he stroked the ball tamely into Velaphi’s waiting arms.
The remainder of the match seemed something of an anti-climax, although, McBreen wasted a good chance to add the third when he skied an effort over the bar from four metres out.
But the Glory weren’t threatened as they won their second match in a row to all-but seal their maiden finals appearance in the competition.
Perth Glory 2 (McBreen 22, Howarth 41)
Wellington Phoenix 0
Crowd: 9368 at ME Bank Stadium.
