The Glory snapped a six-game winless run with a 2-1 win over 10-man Victory and are now nine points behind sixth-placed Western Sydney.

Perth are midway through their run of eight home games and face a season-defining two weeks with matches against fellow finals contenders Western United, Western Sydney, Adelaide and Macarthur.

"That's the challenge. We've faced all these teams before and barring maybe one or two I think that we've been in positions to win those games," Garcia said.

"So it's just about taking the confidence and knowing that we can dominate those teams and actually get the results.

"That's probably the biggest thing is that we've got to believe that we can go forward and get the results we need.

"We've still got a game or two in hand and it's just about gaining a bit of momentum, and hopefully keeping people fresh and getting the best out of everyone."

Garcia hailed the influence of attackers Bruno Fornaroli and Chris Ikonomidis, who both scored against Victory while confirming Neil Kilkenny was rested amid Perth's fixture crunch.

Victory received a penalty for handball in the 24th minute but Glory goalkeeper Liam Reddy dived the right way to deny Robbie Kruse from the spot.

The game swung in Perth's favour in the 48th minute when Victory centre-back Nick Ansell received his marching orders for a late, studs-up challenge on Callum Timmins, with interim coach Steve Kean labelling the red card as "harsh".

Less than four minutes later, Perth made Melbourne pay.

Diego Castro glided past the Victory defence, played a rapid-fire one-two with Ciaran Bramwell and cut the ball back for Fornaroli to score.

In the 56th minute, Perth doubled their lead.

Fornaroli pinched the ball off Kruse and slipped it to Carlo Armiento, who found Ikonomidis at the back post.

The Socceroo lashed home a lethal volley that beat Matt Acton at his near post.

Victory snared what proved to be just a consolation goal in the 79th minute.

Jake Brimmer released Kruse, who charged forward and lashed a strike off the crossbar, with Gestede on hand to bury the rebound.

"When you miss a penalty then you obviously lose a man as well, it's difficult but I took a lot of positives," Kean said.

"... we responded and with 10 (players) we managed to get a goal. Then at the end in all honesty, I'm disappointed we didn't get a draw."

Kean is optimistic Callum McManaman (ankle) was an "outside chance" to face Macarthur next Friday.

Australian Associated Press