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Goals from Eli Babalj, Mate Dugandzic, Jason Hoffman and Alex Terra inflicted Sydney's worst-ever home defeat, despite the home side starting brightly.

Sydney thought they had earned a penalty on the half hour mark when Bruno Cazarine burst through the high defensive line to beat the offside trap only to collide with Heart keeper Clint Bolton on the edge of the box.

Cazarine tried to recover to slot the ball home but the momentum was lost and appeals for the penalty fell on deaf ears only for the game to turn on its head moments later. 

Babalj broke the deadlock in the 33rd minute when a defensive error let Fred through on goal who skipped past an attempt to bring him down to turn the ball back from the byline for Babalj to finish beautifully.

Just as half-time approached, Rutger Worm left Jamie Coyne for dead with a lungbursting run down the left wing.

With the goal at his mercy though, he delivered a killer ball to Dugandzic who made no mistake in ramming it home past Sydney keeper Liam Reddy to make it 2-0.

A crowd of 16,007, the highest gate of the season so far for Sydney, saw the home side stage an attempted fightback in the second half with addition of Mark Bridge and Juho Makela boosting the attacking stocks.

But the Heart counter was too swift for them to handle and for the third time running a breakaway ball saw Aziz Behich and Dugandzic interplay around the box before a cutback found sub Jason Hoffman - replacing the injured Fred - who slotted it home with a deflection off Pascal Bosschaart to make it 3-0.

An absolute howler from Liam Reddy saw him fumble a regulation save in the box and lose the ball straight into the path of Alex Terra who made no mistake with an open goal and no defence for Heart's fourth, six minutes from time.

The win was second-placed Heart's fifth in a row and gives them a four-point edge over the Brisbane Roar, and only two points behind league leaders Central Coast Mariners who play on New Year's Eve.

Sydney FC 0
Melbourne Heart 4 (Babalj 32, Dugandzic 45, Hoffman 76, Terra 84)
Crowd: 16,007 @ Sydney Football Stadium

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