Rockingham City were relegated from State League Division One while Cockburn City will go to the inter-divisional play-offs in their bid to avoid the drop.
That was the fall-out from the final scheduled round of matches, although there are still three catch-up games to be played to complete the regular season.
Meanwhile, in the play-offs to see who will be in the NPL next year, Dianella White Eagle will face Murdoch University Melville while Mandurah City will take on Perth Glory.
Rockingham were always up against it in their fight to avoid automatic relegation to Division Two and a 1-0 home loss to Mandurah sealed their fate.
The Lark Hill-based club conceded the game’s only goal 10 minutes from time. Chace Reed-Hastie won a 50-50 in midfield and slipped in Jordan Callaghan who kept his cool to slot home the decisive goal.
Mandurah’s win was not enough to move them up from fourth but they were already assured of a second straight inter-divisional play-off appearance.
Kingsley Westside's Daniel Harrison scored a late penalty against Cockburn to give departing head coach Steven Dimitrovich a winning send-off.
Dimitrovich announced earlier in the year that he was leaving the club at the end of the season, having guided Kingsley from the Amateur Premier League to the state’s second tier and winning the Division Two title in 2023.
They finished their Division One campaign in a respectable eighth spot and well clear of danger, while Cockburn were consigned to a bottom-two finish with the loss.
The hosts took the lead in first-half stoppage time via an own goal after James Spurry’s corner wasn’t cleared.
Cockburn knew a win was necessary to keep their survival hopes intact and they levelled when Peter Stewart brought down Angel Andres Rivera with the Spanish striker equalising from the spot.
But Kingsley were awarded a penalty of their own with two minutes remaining following a clumsy challenge from David Araya on Adam O’Neill. Harrison delivered from 12 yards to win the game.
Cockburn’s loss means they finish second bottom and will play Curtin University in a fortnight in the play-offs as they look to avoid back-to-back relegations.
The Cockerels’ defeat was good news for Gosnells City, who are safe despite losing 1-0 to champions Sorrento FC in their final outing of the season.
The Gulls left it late with James McGowan’s 85th-minute winner getting the job done for Steve McGarry’s side, who will be chasing an undefeated season this Friday night when they face MUM FC in a rescheduled game from two weeks ago.
Dianella currently sit second but can still finish below their play-off opponents MUM FC after Ian Ferguson’s side lost 4-3 at Joondalup United.
An early own goal off by Peter Pilkadaris got Joondalup under way with Nick Jennings’ team heading into the game still needing one win to be sure of safety.
The visitors were back on terms when Daniel O’Donovan turned home Paul Zimarino’s free-kick, but another long throw from Jackson Dongray led to United restoring their lead with Andrew Flint stooping to nod in at the back post.
Dongray got on the scoresheet himself in the second half from Flint’s delivery to put his side 3-1 up, only for Dianella to hit back with two goals in the space of seven minutes.
Andy Keogh got them both as he glanced in Zimarino’s free-kick before sending the goalkeeper the wrong way from the penalty spot to tie it up leading into the final 20 minutes.
The hosts would find a late winner though as Sam McKearnan’s set-piece was forced over by James Oldroyd.
MUM FC, meanwhile, have won their past four games and cruised to a 6-2 victory away at mid-table Gwelup Croatia on Saturday.
Marc Anthony’s side led on two minutes when Adrian Ciampini’s cross from the right was met by a crisp first-time finish from Iljas Ahmedov.
Ahmedov made it two after a nice team move involving Kai Jones and Declan Tanna before Gwelup were reduced to 10 men with goalkeeper Josiah Godfrey shown a red card.
Tanna volleyed in Ciampini’s cross from close range to make it 3-0 on the stroke of half-time and the goals kept coming after the restart when Tanna fed Ahmedov to squeeze past the goalkeeper and complete his treble.
Pierre Barilly’s cross was headed in by Moses McAuley for Gwelup, but it was Murdoch’s day as Ed Wynne-Wilson set up Ishmael Dawson to tap in, before Harry Clisby got forward and drove in to continue MUM FC’s excellent late-season form.
Jeremie Mba intercepted Paul Leask’s pass to score an injury-time consolation as Gwelup ended their year in seventh place.
Finally, Subiaco scored twice in the final five minutes to defeat UWA Nedlands at Rosalie Park.
Moustafa Mohamed got them both to continue his scoring streak at the business end of the campaign as Subiaco finished fifth and UWA sixth.
In Division Two, Kalamunda City are one win away from the title and promotion to the second tier after a 3-0 win over Canning City at Maida Vale Reserve.
Jose Zuniga, Samir Ramos and Nicolas Roca got the goals as Kalamunda stayed a point clear at the summit ahead of next week’s trip to Quinns. Canning, meanwhile, sit ninth and should be safe barring an unlikely set of results going against them.
East Perth also remain in with a chance of winning the league after a thumping 5-0 win at Curtin University.
Colm Costello’s team led 4-0 at the interval thanks to a brace from Ryan McCready and strikes from Ryan Murray and Daniel Whelan-Dempsey.
Ryan Doherty got the fifth late on. East Perth must beat relegation-threatened Wanneroo City next week while hoping Quinns do them a favour against Kalamunda.
Curtin are locked away in fourth place and will play Division One side Cockburn in the inter-divisional playoffs in two weeks.
Third-placed Joondalup City missed out on a chance to remain in the title race after being held 2-2 at home by Balga.
Guy McDonald’s side led 2-1 after 57 minutes with goals from Callum Stocks and Harry Edwards turning the tables after Christian Vest’s opener on half-an-hour.
But Nicholas Bahr-Pike levelled for mid-table Balga which means City will likely end the year in third and will face in the play-offs whoever fails to go up automatically out of Kalamunda and East Perth.
At the bottom of the league, Carramar Shamrock Rovers won 3-1 at Wanneroo City to boost their survival hopes.
Ger Fitzgerald’s opener for Rovers was cancelled out by Edin Nalic. But second-half goals from Niall McKeon and Kieran Harrison got it done for the visitors. It was a hammer blow for Roos who likely need to win both their remaining two games to avoid automatic relegation to the Belt Up Amateur Premier League.
Second-bottom Swan United also got an important 3-1 win at home to Ashfield to take the relegation play-off battle to the final weekend.
Ben Greaves, Liam Merigan and Jake Fritchley got the key goals for Swan with Ravi-Raj Singh temporarily bringing Ashfield level.
Ashfield are safe barring a heavy loss to Carramar on the final day and every other result going against them.
Swan are three points behind third-bottom Rovers but do have a game in hand on Wednesday night against bottom-side Wanneroo. If Swan win, they will swap places with Carramar who will drop into the play-off place.
Finally, Forrestfield went back into fifth place with a 1-0 win over seventh-placed Quinns at Hartfield Park.
A late own goal saw Darryl Platten’s team win their final home match of the season with neither side able to catch Curtin and make the play-offs.