Those whose lives have been entwined with the Australian game will know there are utterances that will follow some people to their grave. Craig Johnstone’s immature line about surfing for England is still remembered some 30 years on and to some, unfortunately, still defines him and his career. Tim Cahill trashing the A-League to a Yankee audience did little to endear himself to those who expected better. And the mean spirited, fear-driven Aussie Rules proclamation about opening a bottle of champagne each time we fail to qualify for the World Cup is a slap in the face of every Australian football fan, and must never be forgotten.

But the line that sticks in my craw belongs to David Hill, the erstwhile chief of Soccer Australia in the late ‘90s. The man was brought in on a platform of change, and did his best to shift a staid, dying football culture to widen the game’s appeal.

To set the scene – 90,000 screaming, parochial Socceroo fans crammed the heaving MCG in 1997. A tough 1-1 draw in Tehran was a success, and we just needed to bring it home to get to France '98. Time and again we stormed the Iran goal but couldn’t finish them off. A 2-0 lead proved not enough and with 20 minutes to go… that night will forever be etched in my memory and 15 years on I've yet to bring myself to watch it again.

With Johnny Warren in tears, Les Murray struggling to keep it together, and Australia in a state of shock, including a prostrate Stan Lazaridis who did not move off the turf for a full twenty minutes, Hill took the mic for the obligatory interview. Incongruous smile on his face, he proceeded to tell us what a great night it was! I may have been Hill’s supporter, but that moment I wanted to jump through the TV and give him the belting of his life. A GREAT NIGHT?! It was the worst night of my life!

Clearly to the well-intentioned Hill, what constituted a great night was vastly different to what it meant to me or those like me. Did we at that moment care about the record crowd? A massive TV audience? A possible paradigm shift in favour of football in this country? The hell we did.

So how do you judge the success of a football night? Thirty-five thousand fans packed Allianz Stadium almost to capacity, many to support Sydney FC, others to catch a glimpse of football royalty. The game was going live to Italy. And I am sure many at home watched it on TV, giving Fox the ratings they were hoping for.

Fans got their money’s worth. And there is no doubt that in Alessandro Del Piero we are seeing the greatest footballer to have ever played in Australia bar none.

The first half was dominated by Newcastle who were good for their 1-2 lead. Their passing was crisp, their movement better, and in Craig Goodwin they had a brash young kid happy to take it to Brett Emerton. Here’s a young player who’ll be in Europe within 18 months. After the break we were better and the stirring fightback had the crowd on its feet, but the 2-3 loss is a fair reflection of the game and of our defending, once again the Achilles Heel.

So was it a great night? The “David Hill” in me says a resounding yes. But I am also a rusted-on fan who’s probably missed a dozen home games in seven seasons, and to me it was far from that. There is no such thing as a good loss, and being at the foot of the table isn’t an edifying sight – even Melbourne Victory’s embarrassing 5-0 defeat makes for scant consolation (well, maybe just a little).

Heading into next week, I feel we’ll have far more to lose than the Wanderers, and pressure will be on the boys and Crooky to deliver. Early days of course, but we don’t want to leave ourselves a mountain to climb again. I believe changes will be made and soon.

To sum up, it was a great improvement on the horror show in Wellington – it isn’t all doom and gloom. Hopefully another week will help the boys gel and we get the win we need. Roll on the inaugural Sydney Derby, and a great night that this time ends the way it should.