Report by Daryn McCleave

Devon Gibson struck the winner on the hour mark as Cockburn City condemned the young Perth Glory side to their ninth successive defeat and kept alive the Cockerels’ own slim hopes of reaching the NPL WA top four finals series.

The 2-1 victory at Dalmatinac Park has left City in sixth place, nine points adrift of fourth-placed Sorrento with six rounds to play.

Matt Barlow gave the Cockerels a 1-0 lead in the 40th minute as the home side finished the opening half the stronger. But Glory bounced back onto level terms just three minutes after the interval through Jacob Collard's second effort after his initial shot had struck the woodwork.

But Gibson's low strike from distance ensured the hosts took the three points they deserved.

Cockburn coach Marc Anthony acknowledged the Glory side provided tough opposition but felt his side bossed the game after a scrappy first 15 minutes.

"We created a number of chances but we made it difficult for ourselves conceding straight after half-time,” he said.

“We restricted them and we probably should have had one or two more ourselves.

"We expected them to come out straight after the break and they did and they scored - that's something we need to address. But we're glad to have got the three points and we move on to next week.”

Cockburn took total command midway through the first half and went ahead when Barlow was picked out by a long pass. He managed to stretch out a leg to prod the bouncing ball past a static Luke Radonich in the Glory goal.

Barlow almost grabbed his second moments later, clipping an effort beyond Radonich but this time the keeper was relieved to see the crossbar come to his aid.

But for all their domination the Cockerels could have squandered their lead before the break when Gian Albano - despite being in an obvious offside position – did not play to the whistle.

Albano had paused at the raising of the Assistant Referee's flag and by the time the Glory winger realised the referee had overruled his linesman, the chance had gone.

However, in the 48th minute Glory were level again with a potential offside offence a big talking point as Jacob Collard raced away. His first shot was touched on to a post by Dejan Aleksic but the forward followed up well to slam the loose ball into an empty net.

Cockburn's winner in the 60th minute was a well-struck shot from around 30m by Gibson that gave Radonich no chance despite a full length dive.

Radonich later denied Gibson again with a good double stop and the hosts were left appealing in vain for a penalty following a clumsy challenge on Barlow as City sought to kill off any hopes of another Glory equaliser.

Glory coach John Gibson thought his side were outstanding and deserved more out of the game.

"First half we took a while to get going but second half we did really well and the boys stuck it out to the end and showed excellent team spirit,” he said.

"We are improving every week and developing nicely."

COCKBURN CITY 2 (Barlow 40' Gibson 60')
PERTH GLORY 1 (Collard 48')
Saturday, July 5, 2014
Dalmatinac Park
Crowd: 250 approx.

COCKBURN CITY: 23. (GK) Dejan ALEKSIC, 17. Paul NATALE, 4. Euan GRANT, 5. Alan CARROLL, 9. Eamon McNELIS, 12. Feizal ZAW, 14. Conor KAVANAGH (16. Julien TELES 72'), 11. Devon GIBSON, 10. Matt BARLOW, 8, David ARRAYA (18. Liam MURRAY 66'), 19. Kim MENG BONG (7. Jesse FULLER 77').
SUBSTITUTES NOT USED: 1. Struan HERD, 13. Blake ADAMS.
BOOKINGS: None

PERTH GLORY: 1. Luke RADONICH, 18. Josh TUCKER, 11. Rocco PIZZATA (19. Sean TROUP 60'), 3. David STOKOE, 4. Hanafi GHAZALI (17. Jack OLDHAM 77'), 6. Blamo QUA QUA, 7. Gian ALBANO, 8. Jacob COLLARD, 9. Joe KNOWLES, 10. Slobodan VULIN, 11. Dylan WHITE.
SUBSTITUTES NOT USED: 12. Matt NTOUMONOPOULOS, 16. Calvin WHITNEY, 20. Fraser GREENWOOD.
BOOKINGS: None