Central Coast forward Angel Torres has been red carded for slapping an opponent on the head during Perth Glory's 2-0 A-League Men win at HBF Park.
Glory substitute Stefan Colakovski opened the scoring in the 52nd minute, and Adam Taggart sealed the deal in the 93rd minute with a low drive from outside the box.
But it was the red card to Torres in the 77th minute on Saturday that became the biggest talking point of the match.
Torres slapped Jacob Muir on the back of the head after the Glory defender attempted to block the running path of the Colombian.
The incident wasn't initially picked up, but referee Shaun Evans gave Torres his marching orders for violent conduct after reviewing the replay.
"Apparently there was a raised hand so I'll have to look back on that," Mariners coach Mark Jackson said of the red card.
"And if it was, it's very disappointing that we showed that lack of discipline."
The 2-0 result means the Mariners have opened their season with three straight losses.
Not since Brisbane lost four in a row in 2014/15 has a team opened their title defence in such poor fashion.
Glory's first win of the season lifts them into sixth spot.
"It's brilliant to get that monkey off the back and get the first win of the season, not just for me but more importantly for the boys," new Glory coach Alen Stajcic said.
"It's good for the players to get that belief and confidence that we're heading in the right direction."
Perth goalkeeper Oliver Sail was axed from the starting XI after making two costly blunders across the opening two rounds.
His replacement, Cameron Cook, produced a man-of-the-match performance with a series of clutch saves throughout.
Perth winger Salim Khelifi, playing for the first time this season after overcoming some soft-tissue niggles, was electric early as the home side started brightly.
A fast break in the 52nd minute was the key for Glory finally breaking the deadlock.
Substitute Bruce Kamau was released on the wing after Glory cleared the ball from their box.
Kamau squared it to Taggart, who sprinted forward before sliding the ball into the path of Colakovski to slot home.
It was Colakovski's second goal of the season - dwarfing his contribution from last season when he was only picked for two games off the bench under then-coach Ruben Zadkovich.
Tulio thought he had equalised in the 59th minute, but the goal was ruled out for offside.
Taggart also had a goal ruled out for offside in the 73rd minute.
But the former Socceroo sealed the result in stoppage time when he latched onto Riley Warland's bullet pass and then unleashed a low drive from outside the box.
