In a game that saw 3 players off the park, it was the Mariners who eventually made the most of their chances to run out 2-1 winners at Bluetounge Stadium over a denuded Melbourne Victory and move back top of the league.
The result reflected the chances created by the two teams but with the Victory playing over 70 minutes with 10 men they will feel aggrieved that they didn't get anything from the game.
In fact Melbourne will be more denuded of defensive cover with Vargas and Keenan suspended against Sydney.
As early as the 2nd minute the Mariners showed that they resented the performance against Sydney the week before and were out for a win. A sweet ball from Tom Pondeljak found Greg Owens on the right nearing the penalty area. Owens beat Theoklitos at his left post but it rebounded off the post and into the box where Kevin Muscat cleared off the line.
Two minutes later John Aloisi passed to an overlapping Tom Pondeljak, whose shot was saved by Theoklitos one handed at a stretch.
Pondeljak reciprocated 6 minutes later setting up Aloisi for a shot but well covered by the 'keeper.
One minute later Leandro Love made the most of a ball finding it's way to him through a seas of legs, but his shot was soft and Danny Vukovic had it covered.
Melbourne went down to ten men in the 20th minute when Jo Keenan collected Andrew Clark with studs high and referee Mark Shield reached for the red.
Archie Thompson tried to turn a stumble into a penalty against Mariners captain Alex Wilkinson but Shield was unmoved.
The game ebbed and flowed but was bereft of real goal scoring chances in the first half.
Melbourne dominated the first 30 minutes of the second half, but with Archie Thompson well out of sorts and butchering opportunities along with Danny Allsopp, often under the close attention of Nigel Boogaard.
There was action however - such as in the 63rd minute when Allsop shot on the run only to see Vukovic parry, and the play returned to the other end where Greg Owens shot over.
In the 77th minute at last someone troubled the scorer. Allsopp made a run down the left, and crossed to an unmarked Carlos Hernandez who shot past Vukovic. 0-1
The goal revitalised the Mariners who grabbed that game by the scruff of the net and in the 82nd minute Saso Petrovski was on hand to side foot a shot into the net on the left after good lead up work by substitutes Matt Simon and Brad Porter. 1-1
Sustained pressure from the Mariners led to John Hutchinson holding the ball outside of the penalty area, feinting to shott, but when Pondeljak srrived to his left in support with no cover, the classy midfielder was able to blast it past Theoklitos's left side. 2-1
This win moved the Mariners to the top of the league again, with a Saturday night game against Adelaide next week looking like maximising the crowd. Alas they will be without suspended Petrovski and Hutchinson, but Heffernan and Jedinak will return.
Melbourne are severely depleted now for their game against Sydney.