Kim Carroll was steady in the Brisbane back line | Credit: Meshelle Ryan

Despite the best efforts of the visitors, Brisbane Roar defeated Perth Glory 2-1 to retain second spot on the W-League ladder.

This sixth season of the W-League is proving to be quite the heart-stopper!  Seemingly any team, on their best day, can pull out a stellar performance and come close to toppling a giant.  

From the first whistle, it was clear that this was going to be a battle.

Both teams pressed hard and high, with midfielders jostling for possession and strikers making rapid runs up the flanks.

Lessons had definitely been learnt by Perth Glory after the Sydney FC "slaughter-fest" the previous week.

Perth Coach Jamie Harnwell, had pulled off an impressive turn around and Brisbane fans sat stunned as the Glory matched the home side early for offensive chances.

There was no 'parking of the bus' by Glory.

Their midfielders pressed forward and were efficient in their 'give and go' plays, at a much faster rate than seen previously.  Perth's strike trio of Christina Julien, Kate Gill and Rosie Sutton comfortably utilised this faster pace of play and made quick dashes through to attempt to pierce the Roar's back line.

Marianna Tabain was instrumental in setting up Perth's counter attacks with pacy distribution and a strong presence anchoring the central channel.

Glory's experienced Keeper, Chantel Jones gave the lungs a good work out and continually encouraged her defensive back line to stay focused on Roar's muddled attacking plays.

Hayley Raso and Vedrana Popovic owned the right side.

Popovic working tirelessly to pull the ball out of Roar's defence and send it on to a belligerent Raso, whose appears to be continually stuck in high gear.

It was in the 67th minute when a fast counter attack which began with Roar 'keeper Stewart, spied a Katrina Gorry advancement who utilised Raso high and wide.  A beautiful cut back across the face of goal and an unmarked Butt was there to calmly hit the top right corner for Roar's first goal.

It was one of the rare occasions that the Roar were able to so cleanly and quickly pick apart the Glory defence.

Butt and  Gorry then picked it up making sharp angled runs and showed the usual impressive close ball skills to triangle pass beautifully around the Glory's defenders, which inevitably resulted in the Roar's goals late in the second half.

It was eventually a free kick from Ella Mastrantonio that saw the high ball spill out of Kate Stewart's hands and Sutton made no mistake in capitalising on the loose ball in the xis yard box.  A goal to Glory in the 78th minute and validation for Perth's hard work.

Both defensive packs were also key to this low scoring result.

Perth's  D'Ovidio and Shannon May consistently met the ball first thereby breaking down Brisbane's distribution and momentum up front.

Roar's young gun Natasha Wheeler also kept a cool defensive head, under the heavy guidance of her team mates and Matilda's backline, Kim Carroll, Brooke Spence and Laura Alleway.

The Roar's defence was organised as usual and comfortably pushed high to compress Perth's forwards back into the midfield.  Aerial balls lobbed towards Perth's goal were all calmly handled by Spence and Alleway.

Another new player to watch from the Roar is Ayesha Norrie, who was given the last ten minutes of game time by Belinda Wilson.  Norrie played with abandonment and confidence showing good signs of a talent to watch.

In the end Brisbane were just too disciplined and relentless in their pursuit of a win.

Their attack was consistently dynamic and their defence organised.

The work rate by the Roar was characteristic of a side, building towards Finals.

Perth on the other hand still haven't left their run too late.  If Harnwell can extract performances like that from his gutsy squad for the rest of the season Perth stand a chance of a top four finish.