A first-half penalty by Berisha saw the Albanian notch up his 91st goal to eclipse former teammate Archie Thompson

But the moment was not without controversy. Johnny Koutroumbis was adjudged to have handballed in the area but replays showed it hit his chest and shoulder.

Berisha converted from the spot (30’) before Marco Rojas doubled the lead (35’) soon after to give Victory a two-goal buffer at half-time.

Victory momentarily had a three-goal cushion courtesy of Fahid Ben Khalfallah (60’) before substitute Ma LeiLei replied instantly (61’).

There were two more goals to cap off the six goal thriller as James Troisi broke his scoring duck (69’) only for the Jets to grab a consolation with a deflected Carl Valeri own goal (76’).

Thompson jumped on Twitter to acknowledge the moment Berisha took his crown.

Five minutes after making history, Berisha combined beautifully with Troisi to set up Rojas in the box who had little to do to double the lead.

Victory assistant Jean-Paul de Marigny was then sent to the stands for the second time in a fortnight after backchat towards the officials.

Just under the hour mark, appeals for a penalty against Carl Valeri was not paid after replays suggested it was a clear handball.

But on the other end Newcastle would pay as Rojas galloped on the right to set Ben Khalfallah up, whose shot was momentarily saved by Jack Duncan as the ball narrowly crept over the line.

Much maligned Chinese winger Ma LeiLei came off the bench to immediate impact, steering his shot through heavy traffic to pull it back to 3-1.

In the 69th minute Victory looked to have iced the game as Jai Ingham was briefly dispossessed by Daniel Mullen only for the ball to land to Troisi to claim his first of the season.

The Jets claimed a consolation with 14 minutes remaining as Wayne Brown’s off-target shot struck Valeri to land into the back of the net.

Newcastle continued to press forward causing problems for Lawrence Thomas, but to no avail with the final score finishing 4-2.

The result sees second-placed Victory close the gap on Sydney to seven points with a game in hand, but ends the Jets' three-game unbeaten run as they remain just outside a finals spot in 7th.

Victory travel to Adelaide to take on the bottom-of-the table Reds while the Jets fall to seventh to play Brisbane Roar away next Saturday.

Melbourne Victory: 20. THOMAS Lawrence, 2. GERIA Jason, 6. BROXHAM Leigh, 7. ROJAS Marco (88’ 9. BEISTER Maxi), 8. BERISHA Besart, 10. TROISI James, 13. BOZANIC Ollie (73’ 5. GEORGIEVSKI Daniel), 14. BEN KHALFALLAH Fahid (66’ 23. INGHAM Jai), 15. BARO Alan, 17. DONACHIE James, 21. VALERI Carl

Newcastle Jets: 20. DUNCAN Jack, 2. MULLEN Daniel, 3. HOFFMAN Jason, 6. UGARKOVIC Steven, 7. HOOLE Andrew, 8. POLJAK Mateo (82’ 9. KOKKO Aleksandr), 10. BROWN Wayne, 13. VUJICA Ivan (40’ 16. COWBURN Nick), 15. NABBOUT Andrew (56’ 18. MA Lei Lei), 19. NORDSTRAND Morten, 28. KOUTROUMBIS John

Referee: Chris Beath

Attendance: 14081