Sydney FC coach, John Kosmina, promised a more enterprising approach from his team after a cautious opening round 0-0 draw with the tough Melbourne Victory at the Sydney Football Stadium the previous weekend and he was as good as his word with the visitors showing plenty of dash from the opening whistle of the 'Sky-Blues' game against Central Coast Mariners at Bluetongue Stadium on Saturday night.
In front of a reasonable crowd, approaching 11,000, on a cold evening by the bay, Sydney wasted little time exploiting some frailties in the Mariners' defence before going on to win 3-2 and avenging a 3-0 pre-season drubbing just weeks earlier.
Alex Brosque got away down the right and easily saw off the under-done Nigel Boogaard before cutting the ball back from the by-line to about the 15 yard mark.
Mark Bridge threw a dummy and the ball sat up nicely for Sydney skipper, Steve Corica, who lashed the ball past a helplessly exposed Danny Vukovic.
It had been an explosive start to the match by both teams, keen to post their first win of the season and both approaching things with a real sense of attacking purpose.
Three minutes after that opening goal Mariners' marksman, Saso Petrovski, keen to score against his former club, got to the near post to latch onto a ball played in by Ahmad Elrich, but under a strong challenge from two FC defenders and finishing in a heap inside the six yard box Petrovski could draw no sympathy from referee Ben Williams.
It was a different story in the 12th minute when Matt Simon came down through the close attentions of Robbie Middleby in a virtual sandwich which included Simon Colosimo and from the ensuing penalty kick Petrovski cleverly sent Clint Bolton the wrong way to put his side level.
Sydney was not going to take that setback lightly and needed only a couple more minutes to regain the lead.
Once again it was Corica who finished off a good move, after Bridge had been forced wide on the left and barely having room to cut the ball back for Brosque who fed Corica, with the finish from the stand-in skipper once again being clinical.
Chances that fell later in the half to Brosque and Bridge went begging, the former clipping well over the advancing Vukovic but also the bar, in the 24th and Bridge dragging a shot across the face of goal, missing the left hand upright by enough to swear by, when another goal looked a formality.
The Mariners were always well in the game but their defence was not at its best on this occasion, relying heavily on the forwards to compensate for their frequent mistakes to stay in the contest.
Sydney were fortunate that Terry McFlynn was on hand in a frenetic goalmouth a moment or two following an Elrich corner in the 36th, the Northern Irishman stationed on the line able to hook the ball clear from a seemingly goal-bound shot by Mariners' captain, Alex Wilkinson.
Bridge fired wide again in the 37th as Sydney continued to test the Mariners at the back.
All square at the break and with the home team a 2-1 down, there was still no reason to expect anything other than an attacking mindset from both teams when play resumed.
Central Coast had a goal disallowed at the start of the second half, Petrovski again the man looking to score with a header, after a ball played in by Elrich; but while the ball found the net Petrovski was ruled offside and it was not until the 67th that the striker was able to put his side on terms once more.
Elrich, who had a better second half, after doing little before the break, played the ball to the edge of the box on the right, where Petrovski shook off Timpano and Middleby before turning sharply and picking his spot, in the bottom left corner of Bolton's net.
Sydney might have fallen prey to a positive Central Coast side in the last twenty minutes, when reduced to ten men after a double caution handed out to Stuart Musialik for a foul and immediate dissent, but their resolve never wavered.
They refused to be daunted and pressed for the winner, getting it after a foul on the left and just outside the box in the 80th minute.
Dead-ball specialist, Shannon Cole, who his coach John Kosmina had said, after the last match, a place had to be found for thanks to his special skills-set, stepped up and curled the ball in off the inside of the left hand upright to make it 3-2.
A week earlier, from a similar situation, Cole had struck the outside of the left post to see his side denied a late winner.
This time things fell into place nicely for the 24 year old newcomer from Sydney Olympic as the ball snuck well in.
The Mariners best response to that came in stoppage-time from substitute Nik Mrdja whose header, from another excellent Elrich cross, flashed wide.
Neither team at any stage of the game looked to play cautiously so the crowd should have been satisfied with seeing a highly entertaining match.
Partisan followers would, perhaps, see the game a little differently, but while Sydney fully deserved to win they never had it easy, they were certainly rewarded for approaching the game in such positive style.