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Perth Glory's unbeaten run at Macedonia Park has been halted at seven games after they suffered a 4-2 loss to ladder leaders Melbourne City.
Socceroos star Mathew Leckie has produced a mesmerising bicycle kick goal to lead Melbourne City to a drama-filled 4-2 victory over 10-man Perth Glory at Macedonia Park.
With scores locked at 1-1 in Saturday night's A-League men clash, Glory defender Darryl Lachman was red carded in the 60th minute for bundling Leckie over in the box.
Valon Berisha converted the penalty to make it 2-1, but Glory refused to give up and found the equaliser in the 71st minute when David Williams headed home an inch-perfect cross from Keegan Jelacic.
The drama wasn't finished there, with a poor clearing punch from Glory goalkeeper Cameron Cook giving Leckie the chance to produce his dazzling bicycle kick in the 76th minute.
The goal silenced the sellout 3991 crowd, and City sealed the win in stoppage time with a fourth from Florin Berenguer.
"Leckie just keeps raising his standards. He's an unbelievable professional," City coach Rado Vidosic said.
"I think he's playing the best football of his career. It's such a pleasure to have him play for us, and the sky is the limit for what he can achieve."
The result ended Glory's seven-match unbeaten record at Macedonia Park.
City's eight-game unbeaten streak has lifted them eight points clear on top of the ladder, while Glory remain two points adrift of the top six.
Glory coach Ruben Zadkovich was left to ponder whether a fumbling fourth official cost his team a vital point.
"I tried to make a double substitution after it went to 2-2," he said.
"I've asked the fourth official 'next out please'. He fumbled on the board for two or three stoppages before the sub was made.
"I'll have to go through the review processes with the referees and ask them questions, because I'm not sure if I say 'next out please' if he has to stop it, or are we actually waiting for him to type it in?
"What I can say is it's very frustrating, because in the end that resulted in a couple of stoppages, ended up in a corner, and then we conceded the goal."
Jordan Bos opened the scoring in the 16th minute when he squeezed between two Glory defenders and unleashed a beautiful curling strike into the top right hand corner of the net.
Perth's reply in the 25th minute was just as impressive, with Jack Clisby's curling free kick from a tight angle evading everyone in the box and sneaking in.
Glory were awarded a penalty a minute later when Jordan Elsey was brought down in the box by City goalkeeper Thomas Glover.
Perth captain Mustafa Amini stepped up to the spot, but before he could take the penalty, it was overturned by VAR due to a marginal offside in the lead-up to the incident.
There was more drama on the stroke of halftime when Glory goalkeeper Cook turned the ball over with a horror pass.
City midfielder Richard van der Venne pounced and unleashed a 25-metre strike with his first touch, but the ball cannoned into the crossbar and safely away, much to the relief of Cook.
