Wellington Phoenix went top of the A-League Men ladder with a 4-3 win over Perth Glory after forward Kosta Barbarouses continued his stellar goal scoring form.
The 33-year-old notched a double at CommBank Stadium in United Round on Sunday evening to make it eight goals in his past five games.
Phoenix are on 24 points, the same as Melbourne Victory but with one extra win for the season, while Perth are languishing in 11th.
Glory marksman Adam Taggart was deadly accurate with a classic header to give his side the lead in the seventh minute.
Salim Kehlifi lobbed the perfect floating cross in from the right for Taggart to score his eighth goal of the season.
Barbarouses was not to be outdone in the 29th minute with a silky finish of his own.
The veteran feigned a strike at the far post but turned his defender late and slotted it home at the near post beyond the grasp of goalkeeper Cameron Cook.
Glory's loose defence in the 15 minutes before half-time had led to them conceding seven goals in that period before this match.
That became eight when Perth' s curse struck again two minutes into stoppage time when unmarked Phoenix skipper Alex Rufer rifled a low right-footer into the right corner to seal a 2-1 lead at half time.
Five minutes after the break Glory centre back Aleksandar Susnjar produced a contender for goal of the season with a swerving left-foot equaliser from 30m out that soared past the outstretched right hand of diving Phoenix goalkeeper Alexander Paulsen.
Barbarouses soon turned provider for Wellington. He ran onto a pass down the left and with four Perth defenders in pursuit cut the ball back sweetly for Tim Payne to score his second career goal with a thunderous right-foot strike.
Jarrod Carluccio came off the bench for Glory and claimed another equaliser with his first touch in the 70th minute for 3-3, but Barbarouses responded with his second three minutes later.
