Coming off two wins on the road and the chance at taking top spot on the A-League ladder Perth Glory were controversially robbed of what could have been their third consecutive win.
Glory entered the match as favourites against bottom side North Queensland Fury but the Perth's side lack of commitment to the game and a controversial goal awarded to the visitors left the Glory players gutted.
Tando Velaphi was again at the centre of a scoring blunder. This time the goal keeper did not make a mistake but rather the referee. As Fury sent the ball high into the box off a free kick Velaphi's overhead catch off John Tambouras' header was challenged by Chris Gorssman when he appeared to push the keeper of balance. As a result Velaphi fell behind the line and referee Ben Williams awarded Tambouras the goal.
Velaphi was furious and approached the referee after the incident and after the match. Coach Dave Mitchell said he had not seen the footage but said if Tambouras did push Velaphi off the ball it was "disappointing".
However Mitchell did not believe that incident was the reason the team lost, "Our general play was not good enough" he said.
"We had a great opportunity today to win the game. We were 1-0 up, we were controlling the game, they weren't causing us many problems and it's disappointing the way the goal happened."
"But then we didn't have that spark to regenerate and create another goal."
Mitchell agreed the team was lacking its usual form and aggressiveness at the ball. He said the team did not capitalise on their opportunities despite having the extra player in the second half.
North Queensland's Ufuk Talay was sent off the ground in the 45th minute after receiving his second yellow card for the match.
Glory had a strong opening start and controlled most of the play creating two opportunities within the opening five minutes. Two corner kicks by Adriano Pellegrino set up Jamie Coyne in the goal box but he headed the first wide and the second hit the crossbar.
From there the Fury picked up its pace and referee Williams was getting use to blowing his whistle. The referee picked up numerous fouls and handed out eight yellow cards. Jacob Burns was the recipient of one of those cards and having accrued five during the season will be suspended for next week's home game against Adelaide United.
Perth's Andy Todd and Robbie Fowler battled it out all day with Todd achieving his job of keeping Fowler goalless. Glory was able to close in on Fowler and shut down his shots on goal.
Eugene Dadi was added to Perth's starting line-up but appeared lost up forward. Branko Jelic the team's top scorer started on the bench and took to the field in the 75th minute after Dadi was substituted.
Mitchell believes Dadi played well and said tough decisions have to be made even if that did mean leaving Jelic out for most of the match.
"Yeah I thought first time he (Dadi) did well. He caused some problems. I don't think we had good enough delivery for him at some times, but I think he did really well today." Mitchell said.
Well Eugene's been looking good at training and I think he was hungry and ... I just wanted to play him. If I wouldn't have played him today he comes further away from the team. I just thought it was the right thing to do. I certainly think Eugene did well enough today."
Fury's season has had a setback with defender Shane Steffanutto injuring his knee and will miss the rest of the A-League season.