Perth Glory turned back the clock with their most impressive performance of the season at MES tonight.
In a drama packed game which saw Damian Mori substituted without taking the field because of a wedding ring, Glory overcame the league leaders with a slick, professional performance.
Without doubt the return on Matt Horsley and the inclusion of Nick Ward from the beginning were vital factors in the victory.
Also the return to form of Simon Colosimo was an added bonus for the Perth side.
Before a ball was kicked the drama had already started with referee Mark Shield insisting that Glory striker Mori, remove his wedding ring as opposed to taping it.
After some 5 minutes of dispute between Glory coach McMahon and the referee and despite frantic efforts by Mori to remove the offending ring, Glory had to make a substitution and bring Brian Deane on for the fuming Mori.
As early as the 2nd minute Glory had a chance when a long clearance from Petkovic was flicked on by Despotovski into the path of Caceres who just failed to get to it before Galekovic grabbed the ball .
In the 17th minute Horsley intercepted a midfield pass before setting off on a run down the right, followed by a brilliant cross that Deane just failed to get a head on.
However just 2 minutes later it was Allsopp who had played instead of the dropped Sarkies, who found himself bearing down on the Glory goal following a pass by Vlahos , but Petkovic spread himself superbly to save a certain goal.
Glory bounced straight back and in the following minute had 2 shots, one by Despotovski and the other by Ishida saved by the Victory keeper Galekovic.
In the 22nd minute, great play by Ward on the left wing was followed by a pin point cross to the Victory far post, picking out Caceres, who headed the ball back across the goal for Brian Deane to soar above the Victory defence and head home his first goal in Australia for Glory.
The Glory lead would only last for 17 minutes though, when a horrible mistake by Harnwell led to the equaliser. There seemed no danger to Glory when Miller played a ball back to Harnwell and as he attempted a pass back to Petkovic he completely miss hit the ball straight into the path of Archie Thompson. The lesson learnt here is that you do not give the Australian forward an opening like that, and he raced onto the ball before finishing with aplomb into the top of the net past a stranded Petkovic.
Before the half time break Caceres had a shot saved by Galekovic.
At half time Glory substituted an injured Deane for Sekulovski.
Within 3 minutes he was involved in a move with Despotovski and as the ball rebounded off the sub it fell into the path of Caceres but his shot was blocked by the keeper.
However the keeper made a bad mistake just 5 minutes later when following a back pass by Leijer, Galekovic's booted clearance was played onto the body of the chasing Sekulovski and rebounded slowly into the back of the net for the lead for Glory.
In the 71st minute a long clearance by Victory had Thompson beating the off side trap, he raced into the area but fired wide of the goal.
Just 6 minutes later it was Allsopp who was firing in a shot that brought a good save from Petkovic.
However the best chance before the finish came at the other end of the ground after Galekovic took down Colosimo just on the edge of the box and Despotovski's free kick came rattling back off the post.
So Glory held on for a surprise win. A surprise more for the way it was won than the result itself.
It was a performance that for many in the 12,312 crowd, was more reminiscent of the Glory of old, with bodies put on the line and fast free flowing football.
After the game coach McMahon said that this was Glory's best performance of the season. Victory captain Kevin Muscat said that the heat was a factor but not an excuse.
Next week Glory head East to play Queensland Roar while Victory start the first of 4 home games against the League leaders Adelaide United.