Ten-man Newcastle Jets left it late to break Perth Glory's hearts with a 2-1 win that heaps more misery on the reigning wooden-spooners.
In the final minute of added time, Newcastle's Jaushua Sotirio streaked away on a fast break as Glory's defenders fought to catch up.
The 27-year-old crossed to Beka Mikeltadze, who fired home to ensure Newcastle would kick-off their A-League Men season with a win.
Only minutes earlier, the Jets' hopes of securing victory had appeared remote thanks to a moment of madness from defender Jordan Elsey, who was sent-off in his 150th A-League game.
Elsey had earlier given Newcastle the lead at McDonald Jones Stadium, heading a Carl Jenkinson cross into the net to break the deadlock at 1-0.
The goal sent the Newcastle crowd into a frenzy and came only minutes after Elsey had been shown a yellow card for tripping Salim Khalifi.
It was not to be the last time the 28-year-old would attract the ire of the match officials.
Elsey received his marching orders in the 73rd minute after throwing up a high kick that connected with David Williams' head, knocking the Perth man to the ground.
VAR inspection showed Elsey's brain snap had occurred inside the box, which allowed Aaron McEneff to equalise from the spot with 17 minutes to play.
Elsey's red card swung the momentum back into Perth's favour after the Jets had come out firing after halftime.
As the minutes ticked down, the result appeared destined to stay locked at 1-1.
But that was before the Jets turned defence into prosperous attack by tearing away after the Glory failed to execute on a corner in the final seconds.
Perth showed signs of improvement from their loss to Western Sydney Wanderers in the first week of the season.
Ruben Zadkovich's men did well to stifle the Jets' early momentum and had the better of the chances in the first half.
But the Glory will rue missed opportunities and have now won only one of their last 19 A-League Men games.
