With a 7:30 kickoff and the results in from fixtures played earlier in the day the requirement for Mandurah City was perfectly clear. A home win would see the newly promoted Mandurah go equal top in the Football West Premier League after 6 rounds.

Fremantle, on the other hand, were equal bottom of the ladder before the kickoff, badly needing a victory to boost moral.

Despite so much being at stake for both sides the game started slowly with neither side dominating the opening exchanges. Indeed, it wasn't until the 20th minute that the game sprang to life as Mandurah took the lead.

Keith Brown floated in a freekick from the left which was met by Ryan Townsend, his touch fell to striker Phil O'Callaghan who made space to place his drive wide of Steven Grant in the Spirit goal.

After a victory in the cup last week Fremantle were playing with renewed confidence and it was no surprise when they equalised on 27 minutes. Jason Barerra's cross from the right was met cleanly by Cisco Jorquiera who placed the ball wide of Mike Green in the Mandurah goal.

Spirit could have taken a shock lead soon after as the lively David Araya was put clean through only for his delicate chip over the advancing Green to fall just wide of the upright. Mandurah had their chances as the half wore on as well with Jeff Bright blasting a shot just wide of the upright from a very tight angle.

Mandurah's team talk at the break focused on the need to keep the ball on the deck and to get it wide early. This paid dividends straight away as Jeff Bright got around the Fremantle defence to square to O'Callaghan who made it 2-1 within minutes of the re-start.

Mandurah were 3-1 up within minutes again as Michael Currie fought off Spirit's Lluellen Bake to square the ball to O'Callaghan who stole in front of the static Fremantle defence to slot home his hat trick.

Mandurah extended their lead ten minutes later as a fast flowing move found Paddy Quinn on the right touchline. Quinn's dangerous low cross was turned in to his own net by the unfortunate Bake for a 4-1 scoreline.

A lesser team may have given up at this point but Fremantle certainly showed their spirit as they came back into the game with a second through Raveshian Kuppusamy who found space on the right to bury a stinging shot past Green.

Fremantle sensed an opportunity to get back into the game with 20 minutes to play and chances by Araya and Barerra could have reduced the margin and changed the outcome.

The game was effectively ended as a contest 10 minutes from time as Fremantle's central defender Peter Vukmirovic was shown a second yellow card and an automatic red for a professional foul on Mandurah captain Andy Brown.

Brown stepped up to take the resultant freekick which seemed to take a deflection off the wall before squirming through the hands and legs of Grant in the Fremantle goal.

The fulltime score of 5-2 was perhaps a bit flattering to Mandurah as Fremantle were always in the game, however, that did not matter to the large home crowd who celebrated the victory and a first time equal top of the league status long after the final whistle sounded.

Report by Kirk O’Connor