Ruben Zadkovich's return to Perth has been turned sour by a player he mostly shunned last season as Glory came from behind to defeat Brisbane Roar 3-2 in an epic A-League Men encounter at HBF Park.
Roar took a 2-1 lead into halftime in Saturday night's match following strikes to Nikola Mileusnic and 18-year-old Thomas Waddingham.
Glory striker Adam Taggart's second goal in the 73rd minute levelled the scores, before Stefan Colakovski came off the bench to score his sixth goal of the season in the 78th minute.
Zadkovich made the shock decision to quit at the end of last season, and he was installed as Brisbane's interim coach a fortnight ago.
Colakovksi made just two appearances off the bench at Glory under Zadkovich's reign last season - making the 23-year-old's winner on Saturday night all the more newsworthy.
"To be honest, I like to see players kick on and do well," Zadkovich said when asked about Colakovski.
"If I didn't play them for whatever reason, and if in that moment he wasn't the player that I wanted him to be - that's how football works. It's an opinions game.
"I'm happy for the young man that he's had a positive season."
Glory's fifth win of the season extended their unbeaten run to five matches, and lifted them to within six points of sixth spot.
It capped a big week for Glory, who welcomed in new owner Ross Pelligra following a protracted seven-month search.
"I think it was a really important win for the fans, it was probably the loudest it's felt at a Glory home game," Glory coach Alen Stajcic said.
"There was just that extra level of connection and spirit in the ground tonight, and I'm glad the boys could get that kind of result for the fans.
"There's a real sense of hope amongst the whole environment, on the field and off the field."
Pelligra, in the stands to watch his new side, would have liked what he saw.
Glory opened the scoring in the 24th minute when an Aleksandar Susnjar header made its way to Taggart, who easily nodded the ball home with only the goalkeeper to beat.
Perth's joy lasted just five minutes before the Roar equalised through a magical piece of play from Mileusnic.
Mileusnic controlled Antonee Burke-Gilroy's curling free kick with his left foot before spinning to shoot on his right to blast the ball into the back of the net.
The Roar took the lead seven minutes later in somewhat lucky fashion.
Glory goalkeeper Oliver Sail produced a fantastic save to keep out Waddingham's close-range strike.
Sail, while lying on his back, almost kept out Waddingham's follow-up, but the ball deflected in for a goal.
The drama went to another level in the second half as Glory launched wave after wave of attack.
A smooth run forward by Joel Anasmo broke open Roar's defence, with Taggart launching a first-time strike from the bobbled deflection to drive the ball into the bottom right corner.
The stage was then set for something even more dramatic, and it was Colakovski who stepped up to the plate.
Daniel Bennie pounced on a Roar defensive mistake, and Colakovski provided the finish with a drilled strike.
