Two of United's longest serving players gave the Reds the two goal buffer, Lucas Pantelis opening the scoring with a freak goal in the 13th minute, before captain Travis Dodd made it 2-0 in the 57th minute with his third in as many games.

However it was Perth's captain Jacob Burns that stole the limelight, as he scored twice within six minutes to draw  Glory level, before former North Queensland Fury striker Daniel McBreen struck the winner.

"I haven't seen anything like that in the second half for a long time," said Vidmar. "Even at 2-0 we knew they were still going to come at us, but I certainly feel that red card changed the state of the game in that second half.

"We got ourselves into a good position, played a really good 25 minutes in that first half and they came back at us.

"We knew we had to get a second goal to make it a little bit more difficult for them, understanding that they still had a lot of juice in the tank because they are a very good side.

 "Although we got that second goal I thought we could finish off the game, but the red card changed the face of that last 25 minutes."

To make matters worse for the Reds, Pantelis was dismissed in the dying seconds meaning Adelaide will be without both Fyfe and their vice-skipper for this weekend's daunting clash with Melbourne Victory.