Departing Sydney FC goalkeeper Clint Bolton knew the moment Melbourne Victory captain Kevin Muscat missed his penalty that the championship was theirs.

In the A-League Grand Final on Saturday night, Muscat stood up to take the Victory's first penalty in the deciding shootout and with a near unblemished record in five seasons of taking spot-kicks, the skipper hit the left upright despite sending Bolton the wrong way.

The Sky Blues gloveman, who is off to new club Melbourne Heart next seaosn, admitted he was lucky but knew the moment Muscat hit the bar was the moment his team had become champions.

"Yeah, that was the moment. I thought here we go. We are going to win this," Bolton said.

"I didn't see it. I heard it hit the post and I had a quick look and it flashed back out and I thought you beauty, this is our game then."

Later on, Bolton saved the penalty of Marvin Angulo that basically won them the title and said he was confident when the Costa Rican stepped up.

"I didn't even look at him but I did feel before then when the crowd was trying to put me off a little bit and I thought 'bugger you, I've got this one'. I really felt this was the one I had. I wasn't as confident with the others," he added.

"Again it is an educated guess going the right way. It just felt that was the one I was going to save out of all of them.

"It was even better to do it in front of the Melbourne fans."