Coolen admitted he has seen marked improvement from United in recent weeks with the Reds winning five of their last six matches.

The Dutchman also acknowledged there is room for more progress but conceded it would be a major challenge for United to continually perform at the high level they have displayed in the opening two months of the A-League.

"If you see the whole game together, the whole 90 minutes that maybe was the best game till now," he said.

"I think that was the best game until now. If you can get a win at home against a good team, and Perth are a good team, then that's a great performance.

"To be honest I started to see a couple of weeks ago that the training and the games are getting better and better. There's always things you can do better.

"But, it's also not easy for us to play every week at this level. It's also a challenge of how to manage that."

The Reds dominated for most of the game but not before Glory star and Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler almost opened the scoring inside 10 minutes only to be denied by the finger tips of United shot stopper Eugene Galekovic.

Coolen praised the Reds custodian and was pleased with keeping a clean sheet.

"In the first minutes they had some chances," he said. "Eugene did well in those moments so he was also doing his job perfect.

"From that moment we didn't give any chances away. I think for everything, you have to be happy for this game and we kept the nil (clean sheet). Every team wants to keep the nil."

United enjoyed a fistful of chances before half time with Marcos Flores, Mathew Leckie and Lucas Pantelis all going close and regularly testing Perth keeper Tando Velaphi.

Coolen acknowledged the Reds could have been in front at the break but insisted his troops continue in the same vein in the second half, promising the goals would come.

"I told the players that we have to continue the same way and the same mentality as we did in the first half," he said.

"I was real happy with the way we pressed and the transition moments and the chances we created.

"I told them that if we continue the same way that our chances will be there, but don't drop, don't do anything less than that."

Interim captain, Pantelis could afford a smile at not finding the back of the net so far this year despite sitting third in shots at goal for United and forced Velaphi into action at least five times during the match.

Pantelis finished as the Reds top goal scorer last season with five, one more than captain Travis Dodd.

"At least I'm hitting the target," he quipped.

"At the end of the day if I don't score and we still win 2-0 that's more than enough for me. It was a tough game out there and Perth are a very physical side but I thought that we held our own.

"We've got players that are playing to their strengths and that is vital. Serge is big and strong, Flores is creative, Leckie who is all power and myself, Reid and Hughesy who work quite hard.

"So far it's working quite well. It's good to have that buffer but we know there are still many games left.

"Leckie who is all power and myself, Reid and Hughesy who work quite hard. So far it's working quite well. It's good to have that buffer but we know there are still many games left."