A brace from emerging talent Nikita Rukavytsya plus a Jamie Harnwell goal thrilled the majority of the 8030 fans who turned out on a sunny Perth afternoon and were treated to the most entertaining home game of the season so far.

In reply, Melbourne Victory could only muster a single super strike from Adrian Caceres to save their blushes in a largely one-sided encounter.

A fired-up Glory side started the game at a searing pace, taking full advantage of the space and time granted to them by an uncharacteristically tentative Melbourne outfit.

With just seven minutes on the clock, only a fine double save from Michael Theoklitos prevented David Mitchell’s side from grabbing an early lead.

The visitors’ ‘keeper firstly blocked a thunderous angled strike from Nikolai Topor-Stanley who had latched onto a deep cross from Leo Bertos, before diving low to his left to smother a follow-up effort from the lurking Nikita Rukavytsya.

Seconds later Archie Thompson was denied by a smart stop from the alert Tando Velaphi after outpacing Jamie Coyne, but normal service was then quickly restored as Glory carved out three excellent chances in the space of two minutes.

James Robinson was the first to test the besieged Victory backline, seeing his goal-bound effort blocked by Rodrigo Vargas, before another timely intervention, this time from Steve Pantelidis, foiled Jamie Harnwell’s attempt to fire home the loose ball with a spectacular overhead kick.

From the resulting corner Harnwell was just off target with a header after climbing above his marker.

Melbourne’s goal continued to lead a charmed life as Rukavytsya raced onto a Simon Colosimo through-ball only to fire straight into the body of Theoklitos and Harnwell again used his aerial prowess to get on the end of a Colosimo cross, but failed to keep his firm header down.

The breakthrough simply had to come and it duly arrived with 18 minutes on the clock.

The flying Jimmy Downey again raced away down the right flank before turning inside to supply an inch-perfect left-foot cross and Harnwell deftly placed a delicate glancing header wide of Theoklitos’ despairing dive.

The Shed erupted and had barely stopped celebrating when Glory struck again to deservedly double their advantage.

This time Robinson was the provider, linking up neatly with Rukavytsya and the exciting young striker bent a dipping drive into the corner of the net from just outside the box.

At this point Glory looked capable of wrapping the game up before half-time as Victory continually found themselves outfought and outpaced all over the field and yet somehow the visitors managed to force their way back into the contest eight minutes before the break.

A Matthew Kemp corner from the left was only half cleared by the Glory defence, the ball sat up nicely for Adrian Caceres and the Argentinian-born winger blasted in one of the best goals seen at Members’ Equity Stadium this season from a full 28 metres out.

The half-time break gave the crowd a chance to get their collective breath back, but within thirty seconds of the restart, the drama was underway once again.

Gerry Karpeh had been introduced for the home side in place of the injured Downey and with his first touch he managed bring down a long ball from Colosimo and in doing so, cleverly draw three Victory defenders to the edge of the box.

The recent signing from Floreat Athena then dinked in an inviting cross for the now unattended Rukavytsya who needed no second invitation to gleefully chip the diving Theoklitos from a difficult angle and bag his second and Glory’s third goal of the afternoon.

Thompson continued to provide the visitors’ only genuine threat in the final third, but too often he found himself isolated and lacking in support from midfield and when he did manage to carve out a chance for himself on the hour mark, his final effort was comfortably claimed by Velaphi.

The home ‘keeper did almost contrive to hand Melbourne a lifeline as the game moved into its final quarter, mis-punching a corner from substitute Carlos Hernandez towards his own net, but the highly-rated Olyroo’s blushes were spared by the perfectly positioned Leo Bertos who managed to hack the ball off the line.

Allsopp flashed a low shot well wide of the target as Victory searched for a late consolation, but that was a rare moment of concern for a Glory defence who turned in their most accomplished display of the campaign to underpin a welcome and well-deserved victory.