Melbourne Heart slinked away from the Sydney Football Stadium on the day before Christmas Eve with a one-nil win over Sydney FC in the first match of Round 20 of the Hyundai A-League.
To say the match was a spectacle, is a huge overstatement, as both teams struggled to get a grip of the game, wasting chance after chance and handing possession away too easily.
Yet it was one piece of brilliance from two substitutes that opened up Sydney and gave Melbourne the victory. Gerald Sibon slid a ball splitting the defence to find Adrian Sahra running freely into the box. The attacker took a touch and then slotted the ball with his right foot into the bottom right corner of the net.
The game opened with one side keen to stamp themselves on the game. Unfortunately, when Heart captain, Simon Colosimo went in for a tackle, he was deemed too strong and, with only sixteen seconds on the clock, referee Ben Williams produced a Yellow Card.
Other than that, the rest of the first half was rather dour. There were, though, the odd escapades in each penalty area, but generally the two offences were guilty of wasting every chance that came their way.
The worst offender was ex-Sydney FC player John Aloisi. On at least four occasions he was found wanting, each time his headers not even finding the target.
Certainly he was not the only culprit, Stephan Keller glancing wide and Dimitri Petratos volleying wide. The two goalkeepers, though, were not without some work - and late in the half it would be Liam Reddy the one with the most work.
First Aziz Behich had a shot which was not held, but Reddy lept on the ball at the feet of Aloisi. Then when Rutger Worm saw his shot rebound past him, Behich was on hand for the rebound, but his attempt slid wide.
The lack of a score at the break was well deserved, but after the interval it would be Sydney who took the initiative. Within two minutes, Byun Sung-Hwan tried his luck, however last season's Sydney goalkeeper Clint Bolton was in the right place to save well.
Bolton's work would increase significantly as first a Kellar header was acrobatically saved and then, even more spectacularly, Bolton moved quickly back into the middle of his goal to deny a Mark Bridge volley - after great lead up work by both Scott Jamieson and Dimitri Petratos.
The game resettled back to its first half format, neither side gaining any ascendancy, frittering away opportunites before they could make it to the attacking line.
With less than five minutes left on the clock Melbourne struck through Zahra. The game then petered out to the final result, relegating Sydney to the foot of the table. Melbourne Heart, although with many extra games played, move into fifth place.