MELBOURNE Victory fans jeered their team off the pitch at the final whistle - and were well within their rights, after another woeful performance by a team billed as title contenders.

Victory let slip a two-goal lead and failed to appreciate the generosity of referee Chris Beath, who gave the home team a charitable opener at Etihad Stadium.

The 2-2 draw leaves Victory seventh, ahead of Adelaide on goal difference and facing a must-win home game against bottom-placed Gold Coast next week - a loss could leave Victory last.

As has been the case for much of the season, Victory was disjointed, lacked creativity and was almost exclusively reliant on magic from Archie Thompson.

It is scary to contemplate this side without Thompson.

His trickery led to Glory being a man down by halftime, with Liam Miller sent off for thwarting the striker.

It was a diabolical refereeing decision that handed Victory its opener.

Thompson raced into the penalty area after Carlos Hernandez's precise long ball and Glory defender Bas Van den Brink had him covered, sliding in to clear the ball away for a corner.



And just as the crowd waited for Beath to signal for a corner, he pointed to the penalty spot.

Thompson shrugged his shoulders in seeming embarrassment, having not appealed for a penalty, and Hernandez converted in the 53rd minute.

Danny Allsopp doubled the lead five minutes later and, with Perth reduced to 10 men, the game was effectively over.

Despite being a man down, Glory scored twice in the last 20 minutes.

Coach Mehmet Durakovic was at a loss to explain Victory's performance, citing fitness and the absence of players as possible excuses.

"I am concerned. We need to get our fitness up, our spirit against Brisbane was fantastic, tonight we were winning 2-0 and all of a sudden we let it go," he said.

"It was disappointing. We were winning 2-0 and all of a sudden we give the ball away in the last 20 minutes, they score a free kick and we're under pressure.

"It's very disappointing not to get three points at home, the next four of our five games are at home and we need to be picking up points."

Glory was facing its fourth consecutive loss before Andrezinho scored a sublime free kick in the 71st minute and Shane Smeltz headed home in the 87th minute.

Perth coach Ian Ferguson, who is under mounting pressure, must take credit for the draw as two of his substitutes made the difference.

He called on Football Federation Australia to review the refereeing, in the wake of the Thompson penalty.

"I'd like something to be done to be honest, were seeing a lot of inconsistency all over," Ferguson said.

also questioned Millers first-half send off, which forced a reshuffle.

Originally published as Victory lets slip two-goal lead