Perth has claimed its second win of the season, holding on to defeat Sydney FC 2-1 in a tense encounter that spilled over towards the end as the Sky Blues were reduced to 10 men.
As the mercury nudged 33 degrees at Perth's Members Equity Stadium, Glory veteran Jamie Harnwell did the damage for the hosts, scoring twice at the start of both halves, his goals sandwiching a 12th minute strike from Sydney's Brendon Santalab.
After a tumultuous fortnight following 4-1 and 4-0 losses to Central Coast and Melbourne respectively, the Glory redeemed itself somewhat with a solid performance across the park, particularly in defence, and should have been further ahead after creating a host of opportunities in the second half.
But the club's failure to convert gave Sydney a chance at the death as Santalab sent a goalbound header towards Glory stopper Tando Velaphi five minutes from time.
And, as the exhausted Sydney players pressed for an equaliser, tensions boiled over during injury time as visiting defender Iain Fyfe was given a straight red for a clash with Perth's Adrian Trinidad.
Sydney coach John Kosmina understandably felt Fyfe didn't deserve to be dismissed but said his side certainly deserved the result.
"We defended that second goal really poorly, same as that first one," Kosmina said.
"Sometimes you've just got to do the dirty work and twice we've been found wanting against teams that are prepared to roll the sleeves up and have a bit of a dust up."
Sydney remains in third on the Hyundai A-League table having missed its chance to leapfrog Melbourne (first) and Adelaide (second) into top spot. It also continues a lean run for the Sky Blues, who have claimed one point from their last three matches, while the Glory stay in last place following Wellington's victory over Central Coast, albeit just three points outside the top four.
With Eugene Dadi a late withdrawal after injuring himself in the warm-up, the Glory started with Harnwell and Nikita Rukavytsya up front, while the Glory's defence was boosted significantly by the return of former Socceroo Hayden for his first match of the year.
Despite Dadi's injury, Glory coach Dave Mitchell admitted Harnwell and Rukavytsya probably would have started together anyway.
"Last year, him and Nikita did really well together, they struck up a great partnership (and) he's been the top scorer for the last couple of years in the role," Mitchell said.
"They (Sydney) had a couple of chances and we had quite a few chances so I think, overall, we had the better chances and as I said, it was good the way we played as well, so important to have a good performance and getting the win."
Harnwell and Rukavytsya's renewed partnership showed some promising signs as early as the third minute when Harnwell fired a low shot just wide after taking the ball from his strike partner.
But the double act blossomed just three minutes later after Santalab gave up possession in midfield. Rukavytsya accelerated onto the ball, burning off Sydney's Tony Popovic before squaring the ball for Harnwell to tap in.
Santalab, though, made up for his mistake in the 12th minute as he burst forward down the left, cutting inside an over-committed Jimmy Downey and finishing off his run with a low shot from a tight angle that Velaphi could only get a hand to.
Three minutes later