A-League Round 17 kicked off on Friday night with a double header that featured a thrilling 1-1 draw between Wellington Phoenix and Melbourne Victory.
The reigning champions were reduced to ten men when Nicky Ward was sent off for a second bookable offence and they then conceded when vice-captain Tim Brown scored just prior to the hour-mark but they fought back gallantly to grab a late equaliser through centre-half Rodrigo Vargas.
In Adelaide on the same night, the Reds' season went from bad to worse when they went down 2-0 to the Newcastle Jets.
Sydney FC returned to form on Saturday with a free-flowing exhibition of football that netted them a 4-1 win over North Queensland Fury with Alex Brosque in fine form, scoring two goals.
Saturday night also saw a dramatic clash between Gold Coast United and the Central Coast Mariners where United came from a goal down to record a stirring 2-1 win at home.
And on Sunday, Perth Glory were held to a 1-1 home draw by the Brisbane Roar who conceded a late goal to miss an opportunity to take all three points.
Wellington Phoenix: 1 (Tim Brown '57) Melbourne Victory: 1 (Rodrigo Vargas '86) Venue: Westpac Stadium Crowd: 8,200 Yellow cards:WP - Vince Lia '6, Paul Ifill '75, Andrew Durante '90+2 MV - Matthew Kemp '29 Red cards - MV - Nicky Ward '39
Adelaide United: 0 Newcastle Jets: 2 (Matt Thompson '45+1, Jin-Hyung Song (p) '80) Venue: Hindmarsh Stadium Crowd: 8,502 Yellow cards:AU - Iain Fyfe '33, Adam Hughes '73 NJ - Fabio Vignaroli '40, Jobe Wheelhouse '86
Sydney FC: 4 (John Aloisi '14, Alex Brosque '19, '55, Steve Corica '62) North Queensland Fury: 1 (Rostyn Griffiths '58) Venue:Sydney Football Stadium Crowd: 11,871 Yellow cards:SYD - Simon Colosimo '66 NQF - Rostyn Griffiths '19, Matt Smith '54
Gold Coast United: 2 (Shane Smeltz '66, Andrew Barisic '76) Central Coast Mariners: 1 (Matt Simon '39) Venue: Skilled Park Crowd: 4,117 Yellow cards:GCU - Kristian Rees '74, Jason Culina '86 CCM - Dean Heffernan '40
Perth Glory: 1 (Jamie Harnwell '78) Brisbane Roar: 1 (Luke DeVere '52) Venue: Members Equity Stadium Crowd: 7,217 Yellow cards:PG - Scott Neville '90+3 BR - Michael Zullo '88