The debate before Sunday's Melbourne Knights-Perth Glory NSL clash was whether Perth striker Bobby Despotovski would risk his safety to play, but his absence proved to be a boon for the visitors who came away with an impressive win.

The absence of Despotovski - who infuriated Knights fans with a 'Serbian salute' last year and was attacked by home fans - meant Perth fielded strikers Nick Mrdja and Damian Mori, who tore apart the home defence in a 4-1 grudge-match win.

Mrdja was particularly impressive, much to the chagrin of the hardcore Croatian home fans on the terraces, who were less than impressed with the Serbian Despotovski being replaced to great effect by a goalscorer of Chetnik extraction.

It was the Knights who took the lead in the 17th minute when Anthony Pelikan - who was returning from injury - cleverly won a penalty.

Twisting and turning with his back to goal, Pelikan drew a foul from Glory defender Scott Miller, and converted the penalty himself to extend his lead as the club's leading scorer.

In an entertaining and free-flowing opening to the match both sides had opportunities to score before the visitors equalised in the 27th minute through Mrdja.

He set off on a jinking run for goal, cut inside to wrongfoot his marker and his right-foot shot was partially deflected on the way into the net.

The Knights were playing with their standard sweeper formation but even with the extra man at the heart of the defence, they were tormented by Mrdja who laid off the pass to veteran striker Damian Mori to fire in the go-ahead goal for Perth in the 33rd minute.

It was Mori's first goal in four matches - something of a drought for the NSL's highest ever scorer - and he was at the heart of Perth's third goal on the stroke of half time.

Mori cut inside with a lateral run, laid off a backheel pass to Brad Hassell, who combined with Mrdja and then curled a lovely shot into the top corner of the goal.

The Knights brought on Solomon Islands international Henry Fa'arodo at half-time and he almost rewarded coach Andrew Marth immediately with a volley shot in the 48th minute that brought a top-notch diving save by Perth keeper Jason Petkovic.

The home team was thrown a life-line on the 60th minute when they won a penalty, with Glory's Michael Garcia harshly judged to have handled the ball when he charged down a cross just inside the area.

Pelikan again stepped up to the spot, but Petkovic produced his second stunning save of the half to preserve the visitors' two-goal advantage, which was further jeopardised when the Knights' Uruguayan Gustavo Bizcayzacu hit the post with a free-kick in the 77th minute.

It was Mori who put the result beyond dispute when he latched onto a long through pass, outsprinted two defenders and tucked the ball home to add insult to injury of the Knights first home defeat for the season.

Perth coach Mich d'Avray said the build-up to the match was a potential distraction, but he did not expect any further unsavoury scenes to rival those of May 2001.

"I never thought anything would happen - I was very confident the game would go off with no incident," d'Avray said.

The Glory coach said Mrdja would gain great confidence from his performance tonight, but conceded it was too early to write off the chances of Despotovski winning back his forward spot.

"It gives me an option but Bobby is a quality player and a consummate professional - he did well for us last season and he will be back."

Knights coach Marth was left to rue the failure to convert chances.

The most obvious missed chances were Leon Buhic missing a free header from inside the six-yard box that would have levelled the match at 2-2, and Bizcayzacu shooting wide from close range late in the match.

"The guys improved most definitely in their determination and work-rate," Marth said.

"It was just the final third that was disappointing - again."

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