A-League leaders Perth Glory scored two goals in the last 12 minutes to salvage an entertaining 3-3 draw against Melbourne Victory on Sunday.
Victory were 3-1 up through strikes by Fahid Ben Khalfallah, Besart Berisha and Kosta Barbarouses but Rostyn Griffiths grabbed a goal back and substitute Jamie Maclaren equalised with two minutes left to send the majority in the 12,271-strong crowd at nib Stadium into raptures.
Glory now hold a four-point lead over Adelaide United and third-placed Victory at the top of the A-League.
But Perth’s satisfaction at salvaging a point was tempered by an ankle injury to in-form winger Chris Harold, who collapsed to the turf in agony just before the half-hour mark after landing awkwardly as he attempted to evade a defender.
In a further blow for Kenny Lowe’s side, Griffths will miss Perth’s next match against Sydney FC on February 7 after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season.
Khalfallah opened the scoring with a sizzling strike from outside the box in the 18th minute, before Harold won a penalty three minutes later after being brought down by Victory goalkeeper Nathan Coe.
Glory striker Andy Keogh pushed the ball into the bottom left from the penalty spot as Coe dived to his right.
Berisha bobbed up just before half-time and grabbed the lead back for the visitors and a Victory triumph looked certain when Barbarouses opportunistically capitalised on a failed clearance from Glory defender Josh Risdon in the 57th minute.
But Griffiths headed home a corner in the 78th minute to give Glory some hope of salvaging a point from the match and the hope was fulfilled when Maclaren charged towards goal from the right and brilliantly slotted the ball into the far post.
Five yellow cards were dished out in an often spiteful encounter in which referee Peter Green was forced to separate players during heated exchanges.
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Mathew Leckie played a pivotal part in Melbourne City claiming an 8-nil win; playing a role in several of his team's goals.
The loser of the Sydney Derby will be under immense pressure entering the final three matches of the season.
A good performance from Michael Ruhs, scoring twice to beat Macarthur and doubling his season goal tally in the process.
Sydney moved into fourth with their point but Glory's finals hopes are now officially extinguished.
Anthony Caceres is a player with immense talent and has a fantastic work rate, broke the deadlock against the Mariners in the 74th minute.
The Wanderers coach admits he has stuff going on in his personal life, and insists he has full support of playing group.
