The Perth Glory and Newcastle Jets have fought out a 2-2 at Members Equity Stadium in a clash that saw both clubs being reduced to 10 men by the final whistle.
Joel Griffiths opened the scoring for the Jets in the 17th minute, slamming home a quality strike before Nikita Rukavytsya replied 11 minutes later.
A goal from Newcastle’s Tarek Elrich on the stroke of half-time gave the visitors the lead once again and it looked like the Jets would run away with the contest after the hour mark when Glory skipper Jamie Coyne was dismissed for a challenge on Jin-Hyung Song.
But the Glory kept their cool and numbers were soon evened up when Jets defender Daniel Piorkowski was dismissed as well eight minutes later for a clash with Scott Bulloch.
And the drama intensified towards the end as Glory substitute Adrian Trinidad won a penalty in the 90th minute in a clash with Jets skipper Jade North, with Eugene Dadi having to take it twice as the Glory earned a point from the clash.
Glory coach Dave Mitchell was happy with how his charges responded to going a man down.
“Relieved really,” he said following the match. “I think the second half we pushed and pushed and pushed to get an equaliser and hopefully it would have been earlier ’cause I think we would have gone on and won the game.”
Searching for a club-record fourth win at home in a row, the Glory mounted their first attack two minutes into the encounter, Nick Rizzo sending in a searching cross that Rukavytsya couldn’t get to as he clashed heads with North.
After two losses on the trot, the Jets weren’t content to be pushed around by the Glory and the visitors were soon showing their physicality, with Jobe Wheelhouse fortunate to still be on the park after using his hands to tackle Rukavytsya to the ground in front of the coaches.
The Jets were also soon showing why they’re the reigning Hyundai A-League premiers as last season’s competition top-scorer Joel Griffiths demonstrated his class.
The forward had sent one free kick wide of the upright in the 17th minute but a minute later he latched onto a quality ball on the left from Wheelhouse, slamming an angled drive beyond Tando Velaphi’s dive from 20 metres.
Having conceded, the hosts went back into their shells somewhat as Velaphi was called into action again to smother the ball as Elrich raced into the box before a Matt Thompson curling effort went wide.
But against the run of play, the Glory profited from a poor piece of distribution from Ante Covic. The Newcastle stopper sent his 27th minute pass directly back to Coyne in the middle and he wasted no time in passing up field to Rukavytsya, who turned inside North and buried a spectacular finish into the top, right-hand corner.
The Glory’s shaky defence never looked comfortable as the Jets counter-attacked rapidly on numerous occasions, but the hosts looked the most likely to score again as Jamie Harnwell came within inches of connecting with another Rizzo cross, the veteran Glory man clashing heads with Milligan in the process.
But on the stroke of half-time the game’s complexion changed when Perth left back Naum Sekulovski injured his knee and was forced from the field to be replaced by Bulloch, better known as an attacking midfielder.
And Bulloch’s defensive weaknesses were exposed almost immediately when Milligan sent a spectacular 30-metre pass to Elrich, the speedy winger rifling home beyond Velaphi to give the Jets the lead once more.
The Glory began the second half in an attacking frame of mind as Rukavytsya came agonisingly close to getting the perfect touch in the box on two occasions but the hosts were left with 10 men on the field when Coyne was dismissed on the hour mark.
Second-half substitute Dadi had been on the pitch for just a minute when he, Coyne and Song attacked the ball from three directions, Song going down in a tangle of arms and legs as Coyne was given a straight red by referee Matthew Breeze.
But despite going a man down, the Glory lifted their intensity and strung together one of their best spells of possession before numbers were evened up once again when Piorkowski was also given a straight red for a crunching tackle on Bulloch by the sideline.
The Jets came close to extending the advantage in the 73rd minute after Bulloch gave away a free kick on the left. Song floated the cross in but Joel Griffiths could only slam a snap shot on his non-preferred side into Nikolai Topor-Stanley.
Trinidad had come on in the last 10 minutes and he made his presence felt as the Jets looked to close in on a rare win.
The Argentine import was taken out by North in the box as he attempted to head the ball towards Dadi.
Dadi stepped up and sent his first penalty past Covic in goal but some Glory players must have encroached into the area, forcing Dadi to re-take his spot kick.
However, the French-Ivorian didn’t disappoint, earning a point for the Glory in a dramatic finish.
Jets coach Gary van Egmond felt his side hadn’t worked hard enough during the second half.
“We were actually better when they had 11,” van Egmond said.
“When they went back to 10, it became a case where other players felt that someone else was going to do the job and we stopped working.”
“The first half, I thought we played some good football, kept it very well (but) once they went down to 10, we obviously, we didn’t start to do that.”
Perth Glory 2 (Rukavytsya 28, Dadi 90p)
Newcastle Jets 2 (Griffiths 17, Elrich 45)
Crowd: 7837 at Perth’s Members Equity Stadium
