Van Dijk's double in the space of two minutes and a red card to Perth's Chris Coyne moments later saw five minutes of madness as the Reds sealed all three points.

United dominated for most of the match with usual suspects Marcos Flores and Mathew Leckie tormenting the Glory defence.

The pair enjoyed a handful of chances in the first half, captain Lucas Pantelis also fired a few shots, as Perth struggled to contain the duo.

Leckie had his best chance in stoppage time of the first half with Velaphi again producing another fine save to deny the Young Socceroo.

The speedster rifled a shot at full pace from 25 metres out with van Dijk almost latching onto the rebound.

In the 70th minute van Dijk got the breakthrough for United will a brilliantly executed glancing header.

The Dutch-born striker turned in Joe Keenan's cross from the left from 12 metres out and watched it loop over Velaphi in Perth's goal.

A minute later a Paul Reid through ball had Pantelis bearing down on goal and the captain nodded the ball past Velaphi who clumsily brought down the midfielder inside the area.

Van Dijk stepped up and nailed the spot kick, grabbing his second goal in three minutes.

In the 75th minute Coyne received his second yellow card for a cynical challenge on Reid and the Glory played out the remaining 15 minutes with 10 men.

Adelaide United 2 (van Dijk '70, '72)
Perth Glory 0
Crowd; 13,310 at Hindmarsh Stadium