Spirit FC had their slim hopes of making the finals squeezed out entirely by a totally dominant West Sydney Berries who raced to a 3-0 lead within 13 minutes away at Christie Park on Sunday afternoon and never looked back after that.

A hatrick, and two braces among the Berries scorers but the only real chance Spirit had was a penalty kick given but missed by the usually reliable Daniel Cunningham.

In the 4th minute the Berries won a free-kick out on the left, and Steven Wright rose above the defenders to steer a header home. 0-1

With Spirit already struggling to penetrate, the Berries won a corner on the left in the 8th minute and the ball was dropped 'into the mixer' - Wright again latched onto the loose ball and slotted in in to the net. 0-2

With Berries on the attack again they sent the ball onto the crossbar, but it came straight to Dimitri Zakilas who headed it past Murray Nelson in the Spirit goal. 0-3

Spirit looked to have halted the tide, and in the 22nd minute Nick Tantalos brought down the weaving Juan Chavez in the penatly area, and the striker was awarded the penalty. It is very unusual for Cunningham to miss those, and it just told of what sort of afternoon the home side were having.

Spirit's best period was up to half-time but they couldn't breech the solid Berries backline.

Disaster for Spirit after the resumption when the Berries flooded forward in a counter-attack in the 50th minute, and beat the off-side trap to set up Zakilas for a tap in past Nelson. 0-4

With their tails up the visitors went for another one, and got it through a similar move two minutes later with Kodjo Adjassou this time outpacing the defence to slip it home past the advancing Spirit 'keeper. 0-5

It turned into a rout when a hopeful ball was played forward by the Berries on the left in the 58th minute, but Dimitri Zakilas was allowed to run into space and beat the beleagured Spirit custodian for his hatrick. 0-6

To their credit Spirit tried hard, but vainly, to close the gap. They can score goals aplenty but they looked the shadow of the side that itself knocked 7 past the Brumbies here in Round 2.

Brady Smith battled hard when he came on and in the 63rd minute he surged down the right and picked out Robertson free on the left, but the youngster skied his shot.

Alas in the 73rd minute the Berries countered with another ball over the top, and Kodjo Adjassou raced, and beat, Paul Nicolaou to the ball. He was able to lob the advancing Murray Nelson. 0-7

It is hard to remember a save by Berries 'keeper Phil Zabaks, though in the 80th minute substitute Leo Papanicolaou had the ball in the box, free, but stabbed at it and it rolled toward goal for Zabaks to smother, then clear.

A very well deserved and dominant win, which will go some way to allay the disappointment of missing the Premiership - but augures well for the finals.

'Grade' 20: Spirit FC 0 - West Sydney Berries 3