Western United's hopes of clinging onto fourth spot have suffered a huge blow after they slumped to a shock 3-0 loss in the A-League Women to Perth Glory at the Sam Kerr Football Centre.
Glory entered Friday night's match in Perth needing a win to keep their faint finals hopes alive.
A double from Kelli Brown and a late penalty to the returning Susan Phonsongkham got the job done, lifting Glory back to within six points of the sixth-placed Mariners.
United remain in fourth spot for the time being on 26 points.
But given fifth-placed Roar (25 points), sixth-placed Mariners (24 points) and seventh-placed Canberra (24 points) have all played two fewer games than them, Western are now in grave danger of suffering a big slide down the table.
Brown opened the scoring in the 14th minute after latching on to a perfectly-weighted pass from Sarah O'Donoghue before squeezing the ball home.
Chloe Logarzo almost equalised for Western, only for her powerful strike to rebound off the woodwork.
Glory goalkeeper Casey Dumont then pulled off a stunning save to deny Isabel Dehakiz's dipping strike.
United's hopes of snaring a result nosedived dramatically in the 70th minute when defender Julia Sardo was red carded for taking down goalward-bound Megan Wynne from behind.
Brown scored her second goal of the match in the 81st minute, and she had Western United goalkeeper Chloe Lincoln to thank for it.
Lincoln fumbled Brown's weak initial attempt, with the Glory attacker pouncing on the loose ball to tap into an open net.
It was party time in the 86th minute when a handball in the box from Western United resulted in Phonsongkham nailing a goal from the spot.
It marked a successful and joyous return for Phonsongkham, who was playing her first match since suffering a serious ankle injury six months ago in the NPL Victoria grand final.
