Miron Bleiberg's men endured an awful start and found themselves 2-0 after 16 minutes. Branko Jelic pounced to fire Glory ahead on 14 minutes and barely 75 seconds later Victor Sikora made it two.

The visitors fought back after the break and Bas Van Den Brink, via a deflection off Jacob Burns, made it 2-1.

Just as it looked as though Glory had done enough to hold on, Smeltz pounced from close range to fire past Tando Velaphi for 2-2.

United stopper Scott Higgins produced two brilliant saves to deny Jelic and then Wayne Srhoj in an action-packed 73rd minute, but the misses proved costly as Smeltz scored his ninth goal in six matches when he buried a late finish from Steve Pantelidis' cross.

There appeared little danger when Amaral conceded a free kick at the half-way point, but when it was rapidly taken by van den brink, it released Pantelidis down the right and his cross was converted by an onrushing Smeltz, who injured Glory stopper Tando Velaphi in the process.

A nervous Glory may have given away an early headed chance to Smeltz, but the Perth side settled quickly in front of their home crowd and started taking the attack to Gold Coast.

Despite having only conceded three goals so far this season, United's defence appeared rattled as Glory thrust forward repeatedly and were unlucky not to open scoring in the eighth minute when Jelic slipped the ball wide from close range.

As early as the ninth minute, Glory right midfielder Adriano Pellegrino had sent in a quality cross that Sikora only just failed to control in the area and it was no surprise when Perth opened the scoring from a Traore mistake.

The Ivorian teenager lost possession in the 14th minute, allowing Pellegrino to slip a slide-rule pass through to Mile Sterjovksi, with the marquee man's cross-cum-shot prodded into the back of the net by Jelic.

The strains of The Fratellis' 'Chelsea Dagger', played whenever Perth score a goal, had barely been muted when Glory doubled the advantage two minutes later.

A poor kick off allowed Naum Sekulovski to take possession at left midfield and his pass released a full-pelt Sikora who accelerated onto goal and fired home past a diving Scott Higgins.

Clearly rattled, United's defence almost conceded a third when an errant backpass fell perfectly for Pellegrino in the area who fired over the bar.

There just seemed no respite for Glory as it held onto possession with intent and closed down United's attacks, forcing skipper Jason Culina to play a deeper role that negated his ability to create goals for an isolated Smeltz up front.

The visitors did have one opportunity in the 38th minute when Culina's free kick from the right glanced off van den Brink's thigh close to goal, but Velaphi showed he was back to his best after a horror game last week as palmed the ball to safety.

Gold Coast coach Miron Bleiberg would have had some harsh words for his charges at half-time and they came out a much more settled unit after the break.

Glory seemed content to soak up the pressure but it came back to haunt them in the 52nd minute when van den Brink pulled a goal back.

The warning signs were there when Velaphi did well to punch away Kristian Rees's header, but from the corner that followed, van den Brink was on hand to power home his header from Culina's whipped in ball.

Against the most dangerous side in the league going forward, Glory opted to attack instead of going into their shells. Just after the hour a Pellegrino corner led to a mad scramble in the United box while Higgins brilliantly blocked Jelic's goalbound effort in the 73rd minute.

As the ball ricocheted out, Higgins was again on hand to save Srhoj's powerful half volley before United earned a point from their efforts through Smeltz's late strike.