Royston Griffiths red mars Perth Glory's draw with Newcastle Jets

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Newcastle and Perth remain in the A-League's top six after playing out a neck-and-neck 2-2 draw marred by a controversial late red card to Glory captain Rostyn Griffiths.

The Jets came from behind to lead 2-1 at halftime via a contentious penalty and quick counter-attack, before the Glory equalised after the break at McDonald Jones Stadium on Sunday.

But Griffiths' 87th-minute send-off will form the biggest talking point of a thriller in which referee Stephen Lucas handed out eight yellow cards.

The powerful midfielder collected his second yellow card for a tackle on Devante Clut, but was promptly shown a straight red after giving Lucas an earful on his way off, leaving Glory coach Kenny Lowe livid.

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The rest of the affair was end-to-end and Perth took the lead inside seven minutes when Lachlan Jackson mis-kicked with just enough force to lay the opening goal on a plate for Adam Taggart.

The former Jet was only too eager to oblige, sweeping the ball past Jack Duncan at his near post.

Irish striker Andy Keogh tried to double the advantage almost immediately with an audacious long-range bullet, before Chris Harold came markedly closer to target when his glancing header hit the crossbar.

Keogh and Diego Castro continued to circle as the high-pressing Glory squeezed a Jets outfit struggling to escape their own half.

That was until the 37th minute, when Morten Nordstrand went down in Perth's penalty box over what appeared to be an innocuous foul on Shane Lowry.

Lucas pointed to the spot, and from there Mateo Poljak beat gloveman Liam Reddy, injecting life into the hosts.

Realising his team were unable to play out from the back, Jets captain Nigel Boogaard sent a couple of long balls up the pitch.

It opened up space and allowed Newcastle to strike again on the tick of half-time.

Joseph Mills undid his earlier good work, getting dispossessed in defence and allowing Nordstrand to tee up Nabbout on the wing.

The in-form flyer lucked out with two deflections but still managed to evade Reddy -- and then a fence that collapsed as he celebrated with active supporter base The Squadron.

Perth emerged from the break with renewed vigour and pushed hard for an equaliser, Castro missing two gilt-edged chances within a minute as the Spaniard struck the bar once from point-blank range before skimming it again from further afield.

Finally, Harold whipped a ball in to the back post where Keogh flung out a boot to divert into the turf and then the net.

As both sides hunted a winner, Duncan kept Newcastle in the game with an immense one-on-one save to deny Taggart a tap-in, before Griffiths' dismissal sent Perth down to 10 men.