By David Manuca (@davidmanuca)

Bentleigh Greens' dream Westfield FFA Cup run has come to an end following a 3-0 semi-final defeat at the hands of Perth Glory at a sold-out Kingston Heath Soccer Complex on Tuesday night.

A brace from Nebojsa Marinkovic and a late goal to substitute Chris Harold sealed the win for Perth, which become the first team to qualify for the inaugural FFA Cup Final.

Bentleigh showed great character against the Hyundai A-League leader and matched Glory for large parts of the contest, in front of 3300 spectators.

Perth started brightly and almost scored early through Michael Thwaite, but the defender’s header sailed just wide of the goal.

The visitors failed to threaten Bentleigh thereafter as the game evened out, with the Greens beginning to break down the Glory defence.

Jamie De Abreu looked lively on the wing and created a glorious opportunity for Luke Gallo on 26 minutes, but the forward scraped his shot wide of Danny Vukovic’s goal.

The miss proved costly with Marinkovic firing Glory ahead just three minutes later. The Serbian midfielder smashed a sumptuous free-kick in off the crossbar to stun the home crowd.

Andy Keogh had the chance to double Glory’s lead when Greens goalkeeper Alastair Bray parried Youssouf Hersi’s strike, but the Irish forward skied the rebound.

Bentleigh went in to the break still in the game - despite being 1-0 down - but the task became even harder just minutes into the second-half.

Thwaite found Keogh who teed up Marinkovic, and the midfielder nutmegged Bentleigh defender Jack Webster before calmly slotting past Bray to make it 2-0.

That goal spurred the Greens to pull a goal back and get themselves back in the contest, and they came close on a number of occasions through long-range strikes.

Luke O’Dea went close first before Luke Pilkington and then Wayne Wallace just missed the target in Bentleigh’s finest period of the game.

Bentleigh edged closer and closer to finding a goal but as the game went on Perth looked more and more likely to wrap up the win, and it sealed it with a third goal on 84 minutes.

Marinkovic was involved again finding Josh Risdon down the left, with the half-time substitute finding Harold who controlled the ball and fired past Bray.

Bentleigh Greens coach John Anastasiadis said he couldn’t be prouder of his side’s performance.

“Especially second half we gave a great account of ourselves today,” Anastasiadis said.

“The boys pushed Glory the whole way. Even at 2-0 down we didn’t sit back and concede that we’ve been defeated.

“We had some great opportunities on goal. I couldn’t be prouder for the boys, they gave it all they’ve got.”

Perth Glory manager Kenny Lowe gave credit to a gallant Bentleigh.

“It’s never easy…It’s a cup game,” Lowe said.

“I thought Bentleigh were excellent. They played some superb football and they really brought the game to us.

“I think in a 20-minute spell in the second half, you could see we were probably running out of legs and they [Bentleigh] had opportunities from range.

“As a spectable it was superb. The crowd, the atmosphere and the whole vibe about it says a lot about the competition.”

FULL TIME: Bentleigh Greens 0 lost to Perth Glory 3 (Marinkovic 29’ 50’, Harold 84’) at Kingston Heath Soccer Complex, Cheltenham, Victoria

Bentleigh Greens: 21. Alastair BRAY (GK), 2. Thomas MATTHEWS, 3. Jamie CUMMING, 5. Jack WEBSTER, 7. Jamie DE ABREU, 8. Wayne WALLACE (C), 9. Luke O’DEA (16. Nick TEICHMANN 87’), 12. Luke GALLO, 15. Christian CAVALLO, 19. Liam MCCORMICK (4. Patrick AVICE 64’), 24. Luke PILKINGTON (22. Lewis FOSTER 88’).

Unused substitutes: 1. Christopher VAN CORLER (GK), 13. Ryan LOSTY.

Yellow cards: Matthews 24’, Cavallo 32’, Pilkington 63’, Webster 70’

Red cards: Nil

Perth Glory: 1. Danny VUKOVIC (GK), 2. Jack CLISBY (19. Josh RISDON 46’), 6. Dino DJLUBIC, 7. Youssouf HERSI (14. Chris HAROLD 64’), 9. Andy KEOGH, 10. Nebojsa MARINKOVIC, 11. Richard GARCIA, 13. Diogo FERREIRA, 20. Danny DE SILVA, 23. Michael THWAITE (C), 24. Rostyn GRIFFITHS (3. Brandon O’NEILL 83’).

Unused substitutes: 22. Cameron EDWARDS, 30. Jordan THURTELL (GK).

Yellow cards: Clisby 37’, Djulbic 68’

Red cards: Nil

Image credit: Graeme Furlong