Despite marquee man Brett Emerton being on national duties, the Sky Blues travelled to Perth and took the lead on the stroke of half-time through a classy Mark Bridge goal.

But, desperate to avoid a third consecutive defeat, Perth coach Ian Ferguson brought on Travis Dodd and Mile Sterjovski during the second half, a move that led to an all-out assault on Sydney's goal as Glory created eight clear-cut chances in the space of 35 minutes.

But standing in their way time and again was the imposing figure of Reddy, who tipped a goalbound Liam Miller effort around the post, before being on hand to incredibly deny his opposite number, Glory stopper Danny Vukovic, who almost scored during injury time.

Reddy also produced a number of strong takes from corners as Glory laid siege to the Sydney defence.

"The whole team did a great effort in defending very well and especially Liam Reddy, he helped the team to pick up the points tonight," said Lavicka.

"He's shown a great performance and did a couple of great saves, especially in the second half for us when we were under pressure, because the home team played very physical, they put on the park fresh players like Travis Dodd and Mile Sterjovski, so we were under pressure.

"Of course we are more happy than the home team, than Glory, 'cause we scored the one goal.

"But generally I have to say the effort from our team was brilliant ... so we pick up a very important three points."

Despite the loss, Glory coach Ian Ferguson appeared frustrated but fairly positive, having seen his side produce one of their best spells of attacking pressure since the opening round of the season, when they could have scored six past Adelaide.

Ferguson was particularly pleased with the efforts of Dodd and Sterjovski, who both came on during the 55th minute and had a maximum impact.

Dodd was clearly smarting from being dropped following last week's 2-0 loss to Newcastle, the former Adelaide skipper delivering his first classy cross after just two minutes on the field as he ignited his new side, while Sterjovski was also impressive during his first game back for the season.

However, in a sad twist, Dodd paid for his manic runs down the left, as he injured his hamstring with five minutes remaining and had to be taken off the park, the coach saying the early prognosis was that he'd miss the next four matches.

"Strange game football," mused Ferguson. "We created numerous chances in the second half and unfortunately it didn't go in.

"But I think the performance of the boys, particularly in the second half, was an outstanding effort and I thought we dominated most of the game and Liam Reddy, I thought was outstanding with some great saves and that was the difference."