It was Wests who came out looking the stronger side in the round 18 clash as they created space up the wings right from the get-go.

The early pressure put on City’s defence was initially dealt with well by keeper Daniel Lico, who made a few reflex saves in succession to keep the score deadlocked.

But the pressure proved too much to handle in the 20^th minute when Robert Dries played a great ball off to Thomas King, who made no mistake with the finish, putting Wests up 1-0.

Straight after this, City went on the attack and nearly found the equaliser.

A bullet from Deon Peato was bobbled by the keeper, but the ball was regathered before going into the net.

Five minutes before half-time, Wests doubled their lead.

Luke Tsantefskis made a nice run down the right wing before cutting the ball back to Gavin Wylie who – with a near open goal to work with – slotted home his side’s second heading into the break.

It was more of the same when play restarted.

Just three minutes into the second half, Wests added a third to their tally.

Damon Mazzarolo made a run to the goal-line before cutting a pass back to Steven Zalunardo  who had plenty of time to control it before drilling his shot home.

After delivering a good first-half performance, City keeper Lico made a mistake that led to the fourth goal.

Lico challenged for a ball 35 yards out, but it was Zalunardo who got their first and pushed the ball forward before slotting it home into an empty net.

King scored the home side’s fifth goal after a through ball left the defence frozen, waiting for an offside call that never came.

Wests coach Sharif Moursi said his team looked good with finals looming.

“We’ve got to keep our form and really have to get that positive winning mentality and keep going forward,” he said.

“Thomas King in that first half was really brilliant and Luke Tsantefskis was also quite good.”