KEY POINTS:
NZ Knights 2 Perth Glory 0
After spending most of the year seeming to be playing on a different planet, not just in a different country, it is a measure of the turnaround under Ricki Herbert that tonight's 2-0 victory left the Knights just a point behind Perth Glory on the A-league table.
That Perth came to North Harbour Stadium with nothing to win and nothing to lose was obvious from their lacklustre performance, while a gutsy and at times attractive display from the home side emphasised how their future was on the line.
From the moment in the 16th minute when a neat move was finished by Leilei Gao but then ruled offside - wrongly the replays suggested - the Knights made clear they were determined to finish on a high and add to the two wins and a draw already secured under Herbert.
It only took another sixteen minutes before Neil Emblen was the lucky recipient of a parry from the Perth keeper after a Malik Buari shot. Emblen shot from four metres out and it was 1-0 to the delight of the crowd of 4936.
The crowd being around double the number usually seen at North Harbour Stadium this season was no doubt related to the fear that this could have been the Knights' last ever game. The FFA may make the position clearer next week.
After 39 minutes it was 2-0, this time Buari finished from point blank range after the ball was headed back into the danger area after a corner. Perth claimed an infringement on the keeper, but there was little evidence of any wrongdoing.
The Knights remained on top and Perth remained only vaguely interested through to halftime.
Little changed in the second half. The Knights continued to play some nice passing moves, their hallmark during Herbert's brief reign, and Perth failed to trouble Mark Paston in the Knights goal, a distant header bringing their best chance of the game.
The referee was at risk of losing control at one point after Gao squared up to a Perth defender and earned himself a yellow card, followed shortly afterwards by another booking - this time to Jonas Salley for a rash two-footed challenge.
The fourth official got involved on 56 minutes, apparently giving the ref a bizarre ticking off if the hand gestures were any guide.
From there things petered out and the fans had to content themselves with speculating on when Emblen would be put out of his agony and taken off. Inexplicably he never was, but he and the rest of the Knights did enough to secure the win and send their end of season message of intent to the A-league: Please keep us on.
