Melbourne Victory have taken maximum points with a 2-0 win over Perth Glory on home turf.
The away side had some nervy moments to come through in the early stages of the half following some pressure from Victory, which resulted in the ball being fed out towards Mark Milligan on the edge of the area, but his deflected shot fell into the hands of the goalkeeper.
Despite some positive play, Victory struggled to find that clinical touch in the final third. This was summed up by a move from James Troisi, who drove out to the right side of the area and attempted to play the ball into Mitch Nichols's path in the box, but his pass slid too far ahead of his teammate.
Nichols tried to find the breakthrough just minutes later with a long-range shot, with the ball aiming for the back post, but the midfielder's effort just flew wide, placing Victory back to square one.
Glory had a rare spell of attack when Chris Harold stormed into the final third down the left-hand side and unleashed a thumping cross into the box, but he put too much power on it and it flew past all of his teammates awaiting the ball.
Boos rang around the home crowd when the referee denied Kosta Barbarouses a penalty after he tumbled in the box, but the match official waved away his appeal.
The home side finally broke the deadlock courtesy of an impressive strike from Adama Traore, who found space on the edge of the box and unleashed a curling shot into the top corner, giving Victory a one-goal advantage.
The second half struggled to come to life in the opening stages, but Barbarouses could have tripled Victory's lead with two thumping strikes towards goal, both of which forced saves from the Glory shot-stopper.
The home side looked the more likely to grab another goal, but the visitors had a great chance to draw level through Ryan Edwards, who stormed into the box unmarked, but as he leaned back to place the ball into the net with his right foot, his effort glided over the post.
Despite some pressure from Glory, the hosts put the tie to bed when substitute Guilherme Finkler went past two players in the box to flick the ball on and take a left-footed shot into the back of the net.
Danielle Joynson
