Under-fire Western Sydney coach Marko Rudan experienced a rollercoaster of emotions as his team pulled off a drama-filled 2-1 A-League Men victory against Perth Glory at HBF Park.
All the focus leading into Saturday's match was on Rudan after he skipped the obligatory post-match press conference on Tuesday night following his team's 7-0 loss to Melbourne City.
Western Sydney hit the lead in the 11th minute via a Brandon Borrello header, but Glory equalised on the stroke of half-time via Adam Taggart.
The Wanderers scored again in the 84th minute after Lachlan Brook bundled the ball home following a save from goalkeeper Oliver Sail, but it took a while for the goal to be confirmed.
Given Brook was originally in an offside position, the goal was initially ruled out by the linesman.
But VAR overturned the decision, due to Brook being onside again by the time the ball had deflected back to him following a teammate's saved strike.
Wanderers players ran to the sidelines to celebrate with Rudan once the goal was confirmed.
The Wanderers held on for victory, but there was drama straight after the final whistle when Western Sydney captain Marcelo had to be pulled away from the Glory bench following a heated argument.
"I caught the back end of that. I just saw Alen (Glory coach Alen Stajcic) and Marcelo and Marcelo didn't look too happy," Rudan said.
"I just asked Alen to let it go. I'm not sure what happened but Marcelo's a winner.
"I just asked Alen politely to just leave him be and give him some time and space.
"I know that myself because it happens at training sometimes when he gets angry, and the best thing to do with Marcelo is to give him time and space."
The result marked Western Sydney's first win in Perth since 2014, and Rudan was proud of the way his team stuck together in the face of adversity.
"I think you saw a togetherness, a real strong spirit amongst us," Rudan said.
"There were a lot of people writing us off, (and) myself. And that's what happens.
"I'm lucky enough to have gone through that enough times in my career, but some of these younger ones, I think they will learn a lot about themselves and about us as a football team as well tonight.
"This win is for everybody back at home, particularly our fans who are also going through some tough times at the moment, our members and sponsors and everybody else involved in the football club."
Rudan cut a happy figure after watching Borrello nail a powerful header from a tight angle to give the Wanderers the lead.
But he was spitting chips on the stroke of half-time when a horror goalkeeping error from Lawrence Thomas handed Glory the equaliser.
Lawrence's short pass was intercepted by Taggart, with the ball spilling to Glory midfielder Giordano Colli.
Taggart raced forward to receive Colli's well-weighted pass and he slammed the ball into the back of the net for his 15th goal of the season.
Glory had chances galore in the second half, but it was the Wanderers who struck against the run of play, with Brook being in the right place at the right time to bundle the ball home.
The result lifted Western Sydney to equal on points with fifth-placed Sydney FC, while Glory are now 10 points adrift of sixth spot.
