It was the versatile defender’s first goal of the season and came in the nick of time after the visitors had squandered a two-goal first-half advantage to trail 3-2 with just four minutes remaining.

Ron Smith opted to start the game with an attacking 4-3-3 formation, with the recalled Billy Celeski pushing forward down the right to join strike pair James Robinson and Jamie Harnwell.

The manager’s adventurous approach was immediately rewarded as Glory proceeded to dominate their hosts right from the outset.

Within six minutes the visitors had created two excellent chances as they opened up a fragile-looking Queensland defence.

Firstly, home goalkeeper Liam Reddy reacted smartly to block a close range effort from James Robinson and then produced more heroics to deny Jamie Harnwell after Sasa Ognenovski had failed to deal with a Nikolai Topor-Stanley through ball.

Robinson was on hand to fire the loose ball goalward after Reddy’s initial parry, but Craig Moore was perfectly positioned to block the shot.

Reddy was again called into action to punch clear as Harnwell threatened to connect with a beautifully-flighted cross from Jimmy Downey that capped a searing run from the speedy youngster, but the Roar goalkeeper could do nothing to prevent Glory from taking a deserved lead on 18 minutes.

Anthony Danze slipped the ball through for Billy Celeski, who aimed a low cross at Harnwell only to see Moore’s attempted interception fly straight into the back of his own net.

There was a further blow for Frank Farina’s side some ten minutes later as the combative Danny Tiatto was forced off with a groin problem and Queensland clearly missed his influence as they found themselves struggling to contain Glory’s attacking thrusts through midfield.

Danze was unfortunate not to find the net on 36 minutes as he just failed to get a decent contact on a Robinson cross to the far post, but that proved to be a temporary reprieve for the Roar who found themselves two goals down three minutes before the break.

A sustained spell of Glory pressure culminated in Nikolai Topor-Stanley getting to the by-line and supplying an inch-perfect cross for Harnwell who powered an unstoppable header past Reddy to claim his fourth goal of the campaign.

It was almost a carbon copy of the goal Glory scored against Melbourne last weekend as Perth’s attack showed further signs of clicking into place.

But the lead proved short-lived as Queensland hit back in first-half stoppage time. Danze was dispossessed by Robbie Kruse who laid the ball back for Marcinho to notch his first goal of the season to the home side a life line at the break.

Frank Farina opted for a more cavalier approach in the second period, playing just three at the back and his side certainly looked more dangerous with Michael Zullo, Marcinho and Mitch Nicholls all squandering decent opportunities to restore parity.

Glory found themselves on the back foot for the first time in the game and cracked on 68 minutes.

Josh McCloughan bustled his way into the box in pursuit of a through ball only to be impeded by Downey.

Referee Ben Williams showed no hesitation in awarding a penalty and substitute Simon Lynch made no mistake from the spot.

The tide of the game seemed to have turned dramatically in Queensland’s favour and roared on by a vociferous home crowd they bagged what appeared to be the winner with just four minutes of normal time remaining.

Nichols picked out Lynch and the Scottish striker’s shot on the turn beat Velaphi low to his right.

The breathless tempo continued unabated as the game moved into stoppage time, with substitute Nikita Rukavytsya forcing a smart stop from Reddy and Velaphi equal to a Reinaldo effort at the other end, but few could have predicted that central defender Jamie Coyne would prove to be Glory’s saviour.

With 93 minutes on the clock, Coyne exchanged passes with substitute Leo Bertos before racing to the edge of the box and drilled a superb low shot past the despairing dive of Reddy to level things up.

Amazingly, however, there was still time for yet more drama as only a last-ditch challenge from McCloughan prevented Celeski from grabbing a winner with what proved to be the last kick of an extraordinary game.