Sydney FC have tightened their grip on second spot in the A-League and ended Perth's unbeaten away record with a 1-0 home win at Jubilee Oval.
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English striker Adam Le Fonder's 37th minute goal decided the cagey contest and put the Sky Blues five points ahead of third-placed Melbourne Victory on Thursday.
Sydney will clinch second with a round to spare if defending champions Victory don't win at Adelaide on Friday.
"They know they need to win tomorrow otherwise second place is gone, so it puts pressure on them, Adelaide are a good team especially at home,' Sydney coach Steve Corica said.
It was Sydney's second win in three games this season against Glory.
"I think it's important to get another win over them, it's a mental thing as well with our boys we know we can beat them," Corica said.
Perth coach Tony Popovic focused more the dent in Glory's road record than any mental advantage or disadvantage the teams might have going into a possible finals match.
"To us it (tonight's result) means we didn't go undefeated away from home, that's something that we missed out, it wasn't for lack of trying, of creating opportunities,' Popovic said.
"We gained everything apart from the result."
He made six changes to his starting side following last week's Premiers Plate-clinching win.
Popovic was happy to give crucial match minutes to players who had got little time in recent weeks.
Sydney had a few more opportunities, but the league's two meanest defences held sway for most of the match.
"After we scored they were always going to put us under pressure sometime, but defensively we were fantastic,'" Corica said.
Le Fondre couldn't miss his chance as he was virtually standing on the line, when Paulo Retre's header from Anthony Caceres' cross flicked off him.
It was the former English Premier League striker's 16th goal of the season taking him one clear of Wellington's Roy Krishna in the Golden Boot race.
It was Sydney's only shot on goal in a tepid first half, with marquee Siem de Jong's 25 metre shot thudding into the Glory wall.
Veteran striker Brendon Santalab had Perth' only attempt of note in the first 45 minutes, heading wide and then firing a strong long range effort just off target.
In the second half, Retre, Rhyan Grant and Brandon O'Neill all had shots for a livelier looking Sydney and halftime substitute Diego Castro added some pep in attack for Perth.
Near the end, Popovic gave his 17-year-old son Kristian his A-League debut off the bench.
Australian Associated Press
