Glory beat out-of-form Jets in A-League

Eighth before round 26, the Glory move level on 32 points with sixth-placed Brisbane, who play Western Sydney (30 points) on Saturday at ANZ Stadium.

First-half goals from Diego Castro and Adam Taggart put Perth in control on Friday night over a flat Newcastle side. The Jets are assured of second place but are out of form with three-consecutive losses.

Perth host Brisbane, who hold a seven-goal edge, in next week's final round.

The Glory exerted all the pressure early and went ahead in the ninth minute via a Castro penalty after Riley McGree clipped an airborne Joseph Mills.

Taggart was just wide with a left-foot strike in the 14th minute and Ronny Vargas shot over the crossbar in the 22nd in a rare chance for Newcastle.

Taggart had a shot smothered and Castro was denied by the crossbar before the Glory made it 2-0 in the 27th minute. Castro's ball put Joel Chianese away before he found Taggart for the finish.

Jets goalkeeper Jack Duncan stopped a one-on-one chance for Chianese in injury time before Dimi Petratos shot over the bar for Newcastle.

Shots from Taggart and McGree forced saves in a second half that didn't reach any great heights until substitute Joey Champness' header was stopped by Liam Reddy on the goal-line late.

The failure of some grandstand lights in the 74th minute caused some concern but play continued.

The Jets lost midfield substitute Wayne Brown to a calf injury in the 65th minute, about eight minutes after coming on.

Jets coach Ernie Merrick said it was a very poor performance from his side.

"If they play like that in a finals match, it's going to be embarrassing.

"I would say that there is self-doubt on some of the players, and some of the players are just not playing anywhere near their best football," Merrick said.

"And it's got a knock-on effect. If two or three are down, that really means five or six are down."

He believed the penalty call against them was "really soft".

Perth coach Kenny Lowe was pleased to see his side dominate with and without the ball and he believed the Glory's performance, rather than Newcastle's effort, was the difference.

"We didn't carry anyone at all and it just goes to show if we can get the more-experienced players on the pitch, we're very competitive," Lowe said.

"The last six games of the season, we'll have played all the top six sides and, at present, we've only dropped points to a team (Sydney FC) that's lost only four games in the past two seasons."

Australian Associated Press