Canberra United did their bit and Perth Glory did theirs. In doing so, the two results saw the side from the nation's capital overtake Melbourne Victory to gain the fourth and final position of the Finals of the second season of the W-League.

On a day when Sydney also moved above their nearest neighbours with a 1-0 win over Central Coast, Canberra's 3-0 home defeat of Adelaide matched with Perth's 2-0 win over Melbourne, meant that Canberra will travel to Sydney for one of the semi-finals. Brisbane take the trip south to Central Coast for the other match.

It was three goals in a tense match that gave the home side their first step towards Final's football. Yet, the game was not easy with two of the goals coming in time added-on of each half. Captain Ellie Brush netted at the end of the first half with player of the match, Emily van Egmond, and Elise Perry grabbing the others.

Canberra commenced the match looking like a team determined to win and put pressure on Melbourne to gain victory in their match. As early as the fourth minute, Ashleigh Sykes got in behind the defence and chose to chip the advancing Sian McLaren, in goals for Adelaide. Yet the Adelaide defence recovered well and cleared the ball before it could cross the line.

That was the beginning of a severe onslaught that lasted all of the opening quarter of the match. A Perry corner found captain Brush who's header was just wide, a portent for the future.

Then McLaren was called into action again. A cross from van Egmond eluded Sykes, but Shu O Tseng recovered the ball and her cross was headed towards goal, only to watch an excellent save, McLaren palming the ball onto the bar and off for a corner.

Having survived the opening quarter, Adelaide came into the game with some chances of their own. The instigator was top-scorer for the lady-Reds, Racheal Quigley. Quigley's cross found Ruth Wallace, but her header went wide.

A few minutes later, a stinging Quigley shot had to be acrobatically saved by Lydia Williams, who was matching her opposite number with a strong performance.

In between, Sykes again got in behind the defence, this time following a wall pass with Jennifer Bisset. Yet, again McLaren did her job, smothering the low shot.

Then, with the game going into time added-on in the first half, Adelaide let themselves down through a loss of concentration. The Perry corner to Brush did the business and the latter's header gave McLaren no chance.

The goal, just on the break, let the pressure off for Canberra, who could now look for their second to make the game safe. Early into the half, Sykes had another chance, but again McLaren denied the young striker with good keeping.

Canberra were not safe as Adelaide tried their best to even up the scoreline. Yet, the little bit of quality was missing for the South Australians. Rarely did they threaten - a Tenneille Boaler shot wide and another chance from a corner easily taken care of by Williams.

The extra effort by Adelaide proved their eventual downfall and late in the match the home side put the game away. With five minute left, Canberra netted twice, both from breaks, and both basic tap-ins.

First Tseng made it to the goal-line and dragged the ball back for van Egmond to slot home. Then, into time added on, Perry was on hand inside the six yard box to tap in from a Snez Veljanovska cross.

So Canberra has to be ready for Sydney next week, a team that will be harder to defeat than Adelaide. For them, hopefully Cian Maciejewski will return from injury in time. They need someone up front who can score to pose any real danger for Sydney.