Ben Folami has scored in the 96th minute to inspire Melbourne Victory to a dramatic 3-2 win over 10-man Perth Glory in a topsy-turvy A-League Men clash at HBF Park.
Victory were in danger of suffering their first loss of the season when Adam Taggart unleashed a 21-yard wonder strike in the 20th minute of Saturday night's match in Perth.
Zinedine Machach equalised in the 42nd minute, and Glory attacker Bruce Kamau was given his marching orders just 15 seconds into the second half for diving.
Victory substitute Eli Adams fired his team into the lead in the 82nd minute with a beautiful curling strike from outside the box, but there was plenty more drama to come.
Glory debutant Kaelan Majekodunmi stunned Victory with an 89th-minute equaliser, before Folami stole the headlines by weaving his way into the box and sliding a shot past a host of Glory defenders.
The result lifted Victory back to the top of the table, two points clear of second-placed Wellington.
Glory are second-last and a worrying seven points adrift of the top six.
Kamau was booked for diving just seconds after half-time when he went down in the box despite the chasing Damien Da Silva not making contact with him.
Kamau had already seen yellow in the 34th minute for wrapping his arms around Nishan Velupillay and pulling him back in an AFL-style tackle to stop a fast break.
"If you're going to police that like that it would be policed on every occasion," Glory coach Alen Stajcic said of Kamau's booking for diving.
"There were two or three times they went down as well, and last week there would have been about 10 of those in our game right in front of me and they were rewarded with free-kicks.
"I don't think he was appealing for a penalty anyway.
"I just asked him what happened and he just said, 'Maybe I got a little nick and then I just went down, I wasn't looking for a pen'."
Taggart opened the scoring following a defensive mistake from Daniel Arzani, who volleyed the ball wildly back towards his own goal.
The in-form Glory striker ran onto the bouncing ball and unleashed a sizzling right-foot strike from 21 yards out to send the crowd into raptures.
Victory scored the equaliser in the 42nd minute when Machach latched onto Arzani's pass and rounded Glory defender Darryl Lachman before firing in his shot from the edge of the box.
There was plenty of late drama as Adams curled in a beautiful strike before 19-year-old Glory defender Kaelan Majekodunmi kept his nerve by burying a close-range strike following a corner.
But it was Folami who would have the last laugh, dancing his way into the box before squeezing his left-foot strike past Glory goalkeeper Cameron Cook to silence the crowd.
Victory coach Tony Popovic was thrilled with his team's fighting spirit, but he lamented their momentary drop in intensity after going 2-1 up.
"I'd say from the send off that's probably the only disappointing part I had - that at 2-1 up, we gave the ball away, we got sloppy, we gave corner after corner away, which is very unnecessary," he said.
"Perth got the equaliser, and we still found a way to get a goal in the last couple of minutes, which is a credit to the players."
