Despite encountering some dogged resistance from the New Zealand Knights, Perth Glory moved into a share of the lead in the Hyundai A-League on November 11, thanks to a comfortable 3-0 victory over the bottom-placed side at Members Equity Stadium. After a fairly even opening, the home team fired a warning shot across the bows of the Knights in the ninth minute when Bobby Despotovski played Naum Sekulovski in on the left. His cross flashed just beyond Damian Mori, and was scrambled to safety by the visitors, with Sekulovski's cross from the resulting corner seeing Nick Ward head over at the near post. Three minutes later, the Glory fans were into party mode as their heroes hit the lead by hitting the visitors on the counter-attack. Naoki Imaya's thunderous twenty-five yarder cannoned off a Perth defender straight to Billy Celeski, who raced downfield before threading a pass through to Simon Colosimo. His first-time pass sent the ball spearing through into Despotovski's path, and the striker, in space on the left, wasted little time in despatching an unerring shot through the legs of Danny Milosevic - 1-0 Perth. Denied a second goal six minutes later when the offside flag denied Mori the pleasure of a goal in what might be his last appearance in Perth purple, the home team withstood a Steve Fitzsimmons free-kick on the edge of their penalty area in the twentieth minute before going a long way towards making the game safe. The move which sparked the home team's second goal was a beauty. Celeski was fouled on the right, but referee Craig Zetter played a good advantage, allowing Jamie Coyne to switch the angle of the attack. Jamie Harnwell steered the ball onto Sekulovski, and he and Despotovski moved downfield at pace, the latter in possession. He rewarded Sekulovski's supporting run with a timely pass, only for the left flank flier to find John Tambouras blocking his shot. But all was not lost for Perth, as the Knights' attempts to clear the danger got no further than Colosimo, who sent Celeski scampering down the right in pursuit of a super pass. Young Kiwi defender Cole Tinkler was missing, presumed having a good time as the man he should have been covering careered unchallenged to the by-line, from where he steered a low cross into Despotovski. Shielding the ball well under the challenge of Danny Hay, he turned and played a precise pass to Sekulovski, who swept the ball home across Milosevic into the bottom far corner of the net - 2-0. With just twenty-four minutes on the clock, and Perth clearly in the mood for some fun, the objective for the visitors was quickly evident - another damage limitation exercise was called for, as the longest trip in world football to fulfil a domestic fixture threatened to become even longer, as the storm clouds which threatened a heavy defeat for the visitors gathered around Members Equity Stadium. But to their credit, the Knights refused to buckle, and instead mounted a spirited resistance which, for a brief period either side of half-time, suggested that they would be celebrating the next goal. Before their spell of dominance, however, they had to survive another Glory raid, prompted by a quick free-kick from Sekulovski to Ward on the half-hour. The midfielder picked out the overlapping run of Scott Miller with a precise pass, but Milosevic, who read the situation superbly, was off his line in an instant to thwart the fullback at close quarters. Cue the Knights' quest for a goal, which saw them enjoy a good twenty minute spell in which Perth found themselves on the back foot. Hay, a former Perth player, met an Imaya corner to the far post with a towering header which cleared the crossbar by inches and landed on the roof of the net. The Knights' captain then met a Fitzsimmons corner with his head, the ball this time ricocheting wide off Tambouras. And just before half-time, another corner saw Fitzsimmons' delivery beyond the far post headed back into the danger zone by

Tambouras. Through the crowd came Hay, whose header was gratefully grabbed by Jason Petkovic. Kris Bright volleyed the final chance of the match over the crossbar from the edge of the penalty area, upon being picked out by Fitzsimmons. And five minutes after the resumption, Josh Maguire teamed up with Bright to run at the retreating Perth back-line, the midfielder playing a well-weighted pass through for Simon Yeo to capitalise upon. Petkovic didn't give him a chance to do so, the goalkeeper haring off his line to clear the threat well. This opportunity sparked Perth into life as an attacking force once more, and after Mori had shot tamely at Milosevic on receipt of a cross from Coyne, substitute Adrian Caceres brought out the best in the Knights' goalkeeper with his first touch on the hour, a rasping drive on receipt of a pass from Colosimo, who himself had forced a save from the visiting custodian six minutes before half-time with a twenty-five yard effort. After Tambouras had blocked an effort from Ward, and Caceres had lashed a thirty-yarder narrowly over the crossbar, the Knights' resistance was finally broken in the 69th minute when Colosimo, with another superbly measured pass, sent Mori spearing down the right at pace. The striker outpaced Tambouras and swept a low cross to the edge of the penalty area, where Ward was arriving on cue. The midfielder skipped past a challenge before producing a cool finish under the advancing figure of Milosevic - 3-0. The visitors mustered a couple of noteworthy raids in the twenty minutes which remained, with substitutes Jeremy Brockie and Joshua Rose both making initial in-roads before endeavouring to link to good effect with Bright. In the former's case, Harnwell blocked his cross, while Rose had more success, only to fire Bright's return pass tamely at Petkovic. Otherwise it was one-way traffic, as the Perth fans urged their charges to build up their goal difference. That they failed to do so wasn't for the want of trying, with Caceres superbly denied by Milosevic in the 75th minute, then finding himself thwarted by the offside flag sixty seconds later, after a brilliantly worked free-kick proved too good for the Knights' rearguard to cope with. Then it was Sekulovski's turn to go for goal, twelve minutes from time. He worked a one-two with Caceres, whose splendid back-heeled return took the winger clear of the defence. He rounded Milosevic, but from a tight angle, fired into the sidenetting. Disaster struck the Knights soon afterwards, as leading goalscorer Yeo was stretchered off with a knee injury. He had been generally ineffective, however, unlike Caceres, who was having a whale of a time in the thirty-odd minutes he graced the pitch. A magic solo run from the substitute five minutes from time saw him slalom his way through four challenges before slipping the ball past the approaching Milosevic. The ball rolled a foot past the far post, much to Caceres' disappointment. Unperturbed, however, he was in again three minutes later, released by a peach of a through ball from Mori. But Milosevic - the pick of the beaten team - anticipated the situation well and denied the goal-hungry replacement once more. Caceres turned provider for the final two opportunities of the match, with both Mori and substitute Henry Fa'arodo firing narrowly over the crossbar as the Knights' defence wilted under Perth's pressure. But 3-0 was their lot - a result which ensures Steve McMahon's men of an overnight share of the lead after inflicting a ninth successive defeat upon the competition's cellar-dwellers. Perth:          Petkovic; Coyne, Horsley, Harnwell, Miller (McMahon, 76); Celeski (Caceres, 58), Colosimo, Ward, Sekulovski; Mori, Despotovski (Fa'arodo, 84) Knights:     Milosevic; Bazeley, Tambouras, Hay, Tinkler; Fitzsimmons (Rose, 62), Maguire (Brockie, 62), Imaya, Caravella; Bright, Yeo (Collett, 80) Referee:     Craig Zetter