The pre-game banner that the South Melbourne players burst through marked a double celebration. Captain Paul Trimboli's 338th and record-equalling South appearance took up half the big blue run-through, the other was to commemorate Kiwi Vaughan Coveny achieving more than 200 NSL games.
But Coveny will not look back on this one as one of his favourites, putting an own-goal past Chris Jones for Marconi's winner in a tight game which ended 2-1 to the Sydney team.
It was Coveny's header in his own six-yard box from a corner, with Dominic Longo putting on the pressure, which did the damage.
Until then the game had been well-balanced, both sides playing attacking football, and not allowing a pitch which cut up too easily disturb their willingness to play the considered pass.
Stallions' coach Eddie Krncevic took the win in his stride, saying after the game, "It was always going to be a hard game, but it's a good three points for us. We've started to play some good football now."
"Our boys worked very hard today, they were very determined. I'm pleased for them," he said. "They know how hard it is coming to Bob Jane Stadium, they couldn't remember when it was they got a result here - it's quite a while ago."
Krncevic said the win extended Marconi's unbeaten run to seven games. "It's the business end of the season. The more points you can pick up now, (the better) you cement a spot in the Top Six."
It was South's second consecutive loss on home soil and the third this season, after being impregnable there for the best part of three campaigns. What once was a ground where the visitor felt the gain of a single point was a victory, is now a place where the away team feels more can be attained.
But despite South's recent form-slide, coach Ange Postecoglou was upbeat after the match, focusing on the remaining games ahead, and still dismissing those who believe his squad has reached and passed their peak.
"Where things were going for us last year or the year before, now they're not," was Postecoglou's assessment.
"We've had an extraordinarily good run over the last three years, but this (bad series of results) is part of football too. You can't always be on top. Through everyone's career, you go through patches where you've just got to battle, and we're in that sort of position now. You can't always be front-runners - sport doesn't work that way."
"It was pretty hard to play well - the pitch wasn't in great condition, but we created enough opportunities. It was on a knife-edge at one-all. We had a couple of good chances, and if one of them had gone in, we may have won it. But they didn't and Marconi took their chances and took the points," said Postecoglou.
Christian Care, only on the park for nine minutes following his introduction in place of Darren McDondald opened the scoring after 26 minutes with a low drive struck from well outside the 18-yard-box which beat Chris Jones' dive and went in low at the far post.
Care had been the beneficiary of a move which had an uncharacteristic loose pass as its genesis. Steve Iosifides had seemed to have an abundance of time and options as he made room up the defensive right, but launched his pass directly at Vlado Zoric who gratefully accepted the gift.
Zoric played a square ball pass into the path of an unmarked Care who struck his shot with clinical precision.
Care had been dropped from the starting eleven by Krncevic as a result of Care's indiscipline. "The only reason he didn't start today was that he got yellow cards for dissent, so he needed to learn," said the Stallions' stylish coach.
It was not a start that South wanted, or the crowd had hoped for.
Within three minutes, South had two gilt-edged opportunities arising from corners, but took neither.
In the first, Goran Lozanovski sent in a deep ball to Con Blatsis at the far post. Blatsis' header went across the face of goal and Trimboli just failed to reach it to turn it in under pressure from Stallions' hard-working captain Brad Moloney.
The crowd's dissection of this misfortune had not concluded before their despair was doubled. This time it was Lozanovski with a corner from the opposite side, and Robert Liparoti with the first effort sending the ball to Michael Curcija at the post, but Marconi keeper David Aceski managed to block. It fell for Trimboli, with his back to goal.
Another player may not have backed himself, but Trimboli took a swing as he turned and despite the home support willing it in, watched as it sailed agonisingly over the far top corner of the goal.
South's continued to press, but were only to garner a solitary goal for their efforts.
It was Olyroo Curcija who levelled just after the restart with a tap-in from a Steve Panopoulos cross from the right, after Aceski failed to take what should have been a regulation catch.
The move had begun with a free-kick in a position that allowed Lozanovski to line up behind it after Coveny had been fouled. Lozanovski played a ball into the box which was part-cleared to where tall defender Liparoti had moved. Liparoti played a ball back up the line to Panopoulos for Panopoulos to send in a high hopeful cross.
Aceski came for the ball, but failed to hold it, and Curcija gleefully smacked the ball into the net unchallenged from six yards.
But it was the unlucky Coveny who put past Jones with thirteen minutes remaining which completed the scoring, and let Marconi take all three points on offer, consolidating its Top Six position.
Jones had seconds earlier made a top-drawer save, turning around the post a swerving goal-bound shot from the outside of Chad Gibson's right boot after Moloney had set him up from a corner, to concede the second corner that Coveny will rather forget.