Newcastle United defeated Perth Glory 1-0 at EnergyAustralia Stadium thanks to a late goal from Fijian international Esala Masi.

The result was a boil-over after the home team's recent indifferent form and the match was stopped for 41 minutes in the second half due to failed lighting at the ground.

Scott Thomas swung in a menacing left-footed cross which found Masi unmarked in front of goal and the Fijian made no mistake.

Newcastle almost made it 2-0 deep into injury time through Greg Owens, but like many opportunities in the match it flew agonisingly wide of the goal.

It was fitting that Masi's man-of-the-match performance was capped off by scoring the winning goal.

Newcastle created the best chances against a Perth team still recovering from last week's shock loss to Wollongong.

Perth, as always, looking capable of turning the game at any moment through the razor sharp strike pairing of Damian Mori and Nick Mrdja, but in truth Newcastle had shown enough character to deserve all three points against the league leaders.

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