The Perth Glory and Newcastle Jets have fought out a bad-tempered 2-2 at Members Equity Stadium, both clubs being reduced to 10 men by the final whistle.
Joel Griffiths opened the scoring for the Jets in the 17th minute, slamming home a quality strike before Nikita Rukavytsya replied 11 minutes later.
A goal from Newcastle's Tarek Elrich on the stroke of half-time gave the visitors the lead once again and it looked like the Jets would run away with the contest after the hour mark when Glory skipper Jamie Coyne was dismissed for a challenge on Jin-Hyung Song.
But, the Glory kept their cool and numbers were soon evened up when Jets defender Daniel Piorkowski was dismissed as well eight minutes later for a clash with Scott Bulloch.
And, the drama just intensified towards the end as Glory substitute Adrian Trinidad won a penalty in the 90th minute in a clash with Jets skipper Jade North, with Eugene Dadi having to take it twice as the Glory earned a point from the clash.
At that point, tempers boiled over as the two sides left the pitch. Jets coach Gary van Egmond rushed out to confront referee Matthew Breeze and Trinidad, with players and coaching staff from both sides involved in several heated exchanges as Trinidad was dragged from the fray by his coach Dave Mitchell.
Mitchell, though, was just happy with how his charges responded to going a man down.
"Relieved really," he said following the match. "I think the second half we pushed and pushed and pushed to get an equaliser and hopefully it would have been earlier 'cause I think we would have gone on and won the game."
Searching for a club record fourth win at home in a row, the Glory mounted their first attack two minutes into the encounter, Nick Rizzo sending in a searching cross that Rukavytsya couldn't get to as he clashed heads with North.
After two losses on the trot, the Jets weren't content to be pushed around by the Glory and the visitors were soon showing their physicality, Jobe Wheelhouse fortunate to be still on the park after burying Rukavytsya with an AFL-style tackle in front of the coaches.
The Jets were also soon showing why they're the reigning Hyundai A-League premiers as last season's competition top scorer Joel Griffiths demonstrated his class.
The forward had sent one free kick wide of the upright in the 17th minute but a minute later he latched onto a quality ball from Wheelhouse, slamming an angled drive beyond Tando Velaphi's dive from 20 metres.
Having conceded, the hosts went back into their shells somewhat as Velaphi was called into action again to smother the ball as Tarek Elrich raced into the box. A Matt Thompson curling effort then just went wide as the Jets looked to put a dismal week behind them.
But against the run of play, the Glory profited from a poor piece of distribution from Ante Covic. The Newcastle stopper sent his 27th minute pass directly back to Coyne in the middle. The Perth captain wasted no time in passing up field to Rukavytsya, who turned inside North and buried a spectacular finish into the top, right-hand corner.
The Glory's shaky defence never looked comfortable as the Jets counter-attacked rapidly on numerous occasions, but the hosts looked the most likely to score again as Jamie