PERTH Glory are now just three points away from sixth place and an A-League finals berth despite having failed to keep a single clean sheet since Round 5.

Coping with the absence of Diego Castro, the Glory beat the Mariners 3-1 at nib Stadium. Despite another VAR controversy that denied them going up 3-1. Chris Harold scored in the 73rd minute with a diving header that was overturned when vision showed Andy Keogh tangling with Mariners defender Antony Golec sending him to the ground.

Glory did end up with that third goal in the 89th minute to Xavi Torres and can attack their final four games following a week off with gusto with finals still a possibility.

It was a goal in either half to Joel Chianese that gave Glory the edge. The winger scored a header in the 29th minute and made it a brace in the 61st, cleaning up a miss from Keogh.

Central Coast did make it interesting with a stunning strike from Andrew Hoole in the 72nd minute but couldn’t capitalise.

The win takes Glory to seventh, four points behind the fifth-placed Western Sydney Wanderers and three behind the sixth-placed Adelaide United. The Mariners stay ninth, 10 points behind the Wanderers and nine behind Adelaide with five games remaining.

“I think we’ve got a group of people who are really focused,” Lowe said. “We’ve had a hell of a disjointed year and a lot of guys haven’t had much game time, but they can feel something happening and they want to make something happen.

“We get a break for two weeks now and then we roll into three more home games and one away game. Strange things can happen. The teams above us aren’t really on fire so we are getting a bit of momentum.”

It was a tame opening from the lowly teams before Neil Kilkenny’s spot-on corner found Chianese at the back of the post.

Keogh made an eye-catching move before his shot hit the post in the 61st minute, but the rebound found an unguarded Chianese who had no trouble scoring his second goal.

Hoole’s strike from outside the box was a beauty for the Mariners soon after but the game erupted after Harold’s goal was overturned by the VAR. Glory still found the 3-1 victory on a scintillating free-kick just before 90 minutes to Torres.

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