The wretched luck that has dogged Sydney FC in recent weeks showed no signs of abating after they were humbled 4-1 by Perth Glory at Sydney Football Stadium on Sunday night.
Despite a dominant first half and an abundance of chances the hosts were unable to stamp their authority on the game and by the finish were a really ragged lot.
In winning the match Perth Glory took a leaf out of the same book as fellow cellar-dwellers, Newcastle Jets and Wellington Phoenix, who both scored heart warming boil-over wins on a three-match weekend.
Leaders Adelaide and now second placed Queensland Roar enhanced their standings without kicking a ball, their match being deferred until after Christmas.
This was another game where confidence and bravado won out. Perth looked outplayed early on yet took the lead with a very fortunate goal indeed and then benefited from an own goal in the 35th minute.
They did miss a couple of good chances of their own; but it was Sydney's misses that were the more glaring and significant, star striker, John Aloisi, being booed off at half time after missing two sitters.
By contrast Perth's constantly improving midfielder, Adriano Pellegrino, had a match in which everything went perfectly.
After opening the scoring with a hopeful flick which deceived Clint Bolton in the 12th minute, following a quick throw on the left by Naum Sekulovski and a run to the left byline by Nikita Rukavytsya, Pellegrino finished the game off with a great cross that enabled Perth to score a fourth goal in the 69th minute.
While that, too, was an unfortunate own goal, a bullet-header by Sydney defender Robbie Middleby, under pressure from Glory man Eugene Dadi, all the credit went to the little wing-man.
He skipped past Sydney substitute, Bobby Petta and his fellow defender, Beau Busch, to get down the byline in a tight space and deliver a ball that the Sydney defence simply could not deal with in the 69th.
Sydney had won ten corners to one in the first half and a similar ratio of free kicks, most of them expertly pumped in by Shannon Cole, but none provided any profit.
Aloisi was given two chances by his team; but while they were sharp ones, a man of his class and experience could have been expected to put them away.
In the 25th minute a ball played through from a free kick by Cole was put on a platter for Aloisi, but the star man tried to toe-poke the ball home and missed.
When Alex Brosque picked up a loose ball, shunned by Wayne Srhoj in the 44th and cut the ball across the face of goal, Aloisi was left with a simple finish; but he got his timing all wrong again and Perth were given another let-off.
That was the story of Perth's day, a series of let-offs and some decent rub of the green.
Pellegrino summed it up well, after the game.
"It's a confidence thing with us. When things go well we lift and we did it again today.
Glory coach, David Mitchell, put down his team's good form in their latest matches to the security of his own position as much as anything.
"We have been playing well ever since the uncertainty about my position was relieved. All the players lifted after my contract was extended and morale in the squad has been excellent since then.
Perth also benefited from spending some time in Sydney before the match, after a hard earned point in Wellington the previous weekend.
"That was four very valuable points for us," Mitchell said.
"We spent the time working together as a group and we did a lot of bonding," said Pellegrino.
Defensively Glory were under siege from the opening whistle as Sydney attacked relentlessly down the right flank, perhaps trying to exploit a perceived weakness there, but the plan obviously backfired.
With Sydney looking likely to draw level at any time Perth extended their early lead with more good fortune.
Bolton failed to hold a simple shot by Rukavytsya in the 34th and Perth had won a corner on the right.
Sekulovski floated the ball in and Nikolai Topor-Stanley got his head to it first. In a futile attempt to clear, rookie Sydney defender, Anthony Golec succeeded only in diverting the ball into his own net with his thigh.
"We missed two sitters and gave them two own goals," explained Sydney FC coach John Kosmina after the match.
Asked if Perth now had a chance of making the Finals after the win, he was dismissive.
"Not if they play like that!" he said. "We played so much better than they did, we just did not win the match."
Interestingly, after the game, when Mitchell was asked if he thought Sydney FC were still a Finals' chance, he responded.
"Not if they play like that!"
Leading 2-0 at half time Perth might have been expected to tighten their defence after being battered for most of the first half.
They answered the challenge by doing something positive, instead, scoring a quick third goal.
The goal came three minutes after the restart and just a minute after Brendan Gan had seen a booming shot from 20 yards sizzle over the bar.
Rukavytsya cut the ball back from the left byline, just as he had in the opening minutes of the match, but this time Pellegrino failed to get a touch, though he had a swish at the ball once again. It drifted out to the edge of the area in the centre and Wayne Srhoj, waiting there, hit an unstoppable drive that flew into the roof of the net.
A 3-0 lead should now have been very hard to claw back; but Perth had not won away from home all season and they had not even managed to beat Wellington in their previous match, so nobody was taking anything for granted.
When Shannon Cole's 60th minute free kick came off Brosque and the ball landed in the path of Stuart Musialik the midfielder did what his strikers could not, slamming the ball past Tando Velaphi and into the Glory goal for an emphatic riposte.
Many might have expected Perth to cave in, as Kosmina rang the changes, bringing on Mark Bridge for Aloisi and Bobby Petta for Steve Corica, but the visitors kept up their attacking momentum, giving Sydney no chance to relax.
Rukavytsya found Nick Rizzo in the 67th and from the latter's pass Eugene Dadi had a great chance to score a fourth, but managed to hit the post instead.
It was then left to Middleby to inadvertently give Perth their fourth goal as he met Pellegrino's cross sweetly with a bullet header own goal.
Dadi had been just beside him and ready to do likewise but could not have expected to be so precise while Bolton would not have been amused.
Sydney has not won at home since Round 5 when they pumped an under-strength Adelaide United 3-0 and after losing at home to Wellington this defeat must rankle almost as much.
Perth beat Sydney and scored four last season as well but Kosmina was not interested in drawing comparisons.
Mitchell noted that when his team had been beaten in Sydney last time, earlier this year, they had a man sent off early and were on the wrong end of penalty decisions.
No such problems this time though late substitute Adrian Trinidad had his shirt tugged inside the box right at the end and seemed almost too embarrassed to fall down, given his reputation. Perhaps, had he done so, Perth might have had five!