Western Sydney Wanderers fell to Melbourne City following a dubious penalty call which promoted some Markus Babbel fireworks. Sydney FC made sure there was no revenge, convincingly defeating Perth Glory in the Grand Final rematch.

Elsewhere, Adelaide United triumphed in the Original Rivalry, with Melbourne Victory’s Marco Kurz now under serious pressure and Wellington Phoenix collected their first win of the league campaign, taking down Robbie Fowler’s Brisbane Roar.

Here is a look at five standout performances from round seven of the A-League.

Bruce Kamau

A lot has changed over the past couple of months for Kamau. In pre-season, he was adapting well to his new role as a wingback part of Markus Babbel’s three at the back formation.

Just before the start of the season he injured his groin to hamper his strong form and has forced Babbel back to his regular formation from last year. Western Sydney have earned some hard-fought points in the meantime, but they’ve rarely looked like a coherent attacking unit.

They still aren’t the finished product, but Kamau’s return injected some flair and creativity on the flanks that Wanderers have lacked. It only took a minute for him to make an impact after beautifully squaring a floated pass first time straight into the path of Kwame Yeboah.

He continued to make life tough for the City defence as he dribbled past opponents with such ease you wondered if this really was the same Bruce Kamau from last season.

The re-emergence of Kamau will cause some selection headaches for Babbel as Alexander Meier missed out with Yeboah and Mitchell Duke also impressing. At the very least, Kamau is undroppable for next week’s trip to Newcastle.

Ulises Davila

Davila once again produced an outstanding performance, this time to finally lift Wellington to their first win of the season, rifling in his fourth goal of the season to open the scoring.

Perhaps it’s because he’s playing for Wellington, or maybe it’s that he hasn’t been able to push them to a win before this week, but Davila has quietly been one of the best players of the league so far.

The Mexican has an array of skills to beat his opponents with – he can leave defenders on the floor with his tricky dribbling or pierce through defences with his pinpoint through balls. Very few opponents have an answer to the clear talent of the former Chelsea midfielder.

He continues to be barely mentioned in the league as one of the most lively and attacking players in the league, but you imagine Ufuk Talay prefers it that way. The longer teams underestimate him, the more freedom Davila will be given to strut his stuff.

James Troisi

Troisi showed exactly what Victory missed out on by failing to renew his contract as he dominated the Original Rivalry clash for his new team.

He is playing in a new role under coach Gertjan Verbeek. No longer is he playing high up the field in behind the striker, but is now tasked to play from much deeper and conduct the play of the Adelaide orchestra. With less pressure from defenders in the withdrawn position, he has plenty of time to pick out the perfect pass to get his forwards behind the defence as he did on Saturday.

It wasn’t all Troisi alone though, as his midfield partners Louis D’Arrigo and Riley McGree were playing their role to perfection too. McGree got on the end of two more goals while D’Arrigo started the move for United’s first.

Adelaide are soaring with a new brand of football under Verbeek and with the astute pick-up of Troisi in the days before the start of the league, they are making a case to be proper Premiership contenders this season.

Kosta Barbarouses

Sydney continue to truck along and rack up the wins with Barbarouses continuing his recent scoring form to take down Glory in the Grand Final rematch.

He used his pace to get behind Perth’s defence regularly who were pushed too far up to contain the New Zealand striker. Barbarouses made them pay for ignoring his speed, first by firing a shot into the left corner to give his team a lead, then by setting up the play that would confirm the Sky Blues would leave Perth with three points.

Barbarouses is a simple forward whose qualities are well-known to everyone. He’s not a surprise package but it’s still difficult to deal with what he has to offer. Defenders know what he’s going to do – make a run in behind the defence – but it’s still working after years of exposure in the A-League.

Full credit to the midfielders who play in behind him too, whether it be Alexander Baumjohann threading another ball for him, or Luke Brattan with one that floats over the defence, Barbarouses is clearly enjoying the service he’s receiving from a quality midfield.

Mark Birighitti

Central Coast kept their first clean sheet in 639 days against Western United.

Six hundred and thirty nine DAYS.

To no small part was that thanks to new goalkeeper Birigihitti who blocked and parried anything that came his way. Besart Berisha had two or three shots that on any other day you would have seen rustling in the back of the net, yet on Sunday evening, the Mariners keeper was always in the right position to stop it.

Same too, when it came to the numerous tests Alessandro Diamanti sent Birighitti’s way from outside the box. All those shots struck with venomous power, yet Birighitti stood tall, unbothered from anything outside of his six yard box.

With no disrespect to Mariners' former keepers, Central Coast have been longing for someone that can regularly save games and win points from the defensive end and with Birighitti, it feels like they have finally found their man.