It took a Todd Howarth goal in extra time to finally separate Perth Glory and Wellington Phoenix at NIB Stadium on Saturday night in front of 13,695 spectators.
The local boy exchanged passes with substitute Scott Neville to calmly slot the ball past Mark Paston for the deciding goal in a pulsating affair which ended 3-2.
Both sides looked well up for this knockout fixture right from the kick off and looked to attack at every opportunity. Despite the Phoenix registering the first effort at goal through a Tim Brown volley, it was the hosts who took the lead after 13 minutes.
A corner into the area was headed goalwards by Billy Mehmet and the effort was only half cleared to centre half Bas Van den Brink who rifled a first time effort into the roof of the net.
In a barnstorming opening to the second period, the Nix scored twice in ten minutes to turn the game on its head. A sweeping move which culminated in a Tim Brown knock down and Chris Greenacre volleyed finish had the sides level before Manny Muscat, in acres of space on the right hand side, cut in and curled a left footed shot past Danny Vukovic.
The introduction of Steve McGarry gave Glory a much needed boost and they grabbed an equaliser after 72 minutes when neat work from Smeltz fed Mehmet and he calmly beat Paston.
The game was finally settled eight minutes from the end of the additional 30 minutes when Neville fed Howarth to score.
Glory will now travel to either Brisbane Roar or the Central Coast Mariners next week where they will play for a spot in the Grand Final.
Perth Glory: 1. Danny Vukovic, 3. Sebastien Van den Brink 4. Billy Mehmet, 5. Steve Pantelidis, 7. Jacob Burns, 9. Shane Smeltz, 10. Liam Miller, 13. Travis Dodd, 19, Josh Risdon, 27. Andrezinho, 35. Dean Heffernan.
Subs: 20. Neil Young, 2. Josh Mitchell, 12. Scott Neville, 14. Steven McGarry, 17. Todd Howarth.
Wellington Phoenix: 1. Mark Paston, 2. Manny Muscat, 3. Tony Lochhead, 6. Tim Brown, 7. Leo Bertos, 8. Paul Ifill, 9. Chris Greenacre, 17. Vince Lia, 18. Ben Sigmund, 21. Dani Sanchez, 22. Andrew Durante.
Subs: 20. Tony Warner, 11. Daniel, 12. Nick Ward, 14. Mirjan Pavlovic, 24. Alex Smith.
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