Steve Corica's interplay

Losses aside, it's heartwarming to see two former Sky Blue veterans make such a splash on the Australian coaching ranks this season. 

Mark Rudan electrified the league with a Wellington Phoenix side that were actually fun to watch and now Corica's surprising many by proving he's not just a Graham Arnold copycat but a potentially very good coach.

Sydney's interplay has displayed some of the finest A-League football played this season and unlike Melbourne Victory they've backed it up with some admirable ACL performances. 

Of course, ultimately, they still risk leaving the competition winless - but it should be remembered that they played the better football and had the better chances tonight.

Where Victory were caught out too easily attempting to hammer an attacking style into wary Asian opponents, Sydney kept their cards closer to their chests, but still played a royal flush every now and then to boot.

Michael Zullo's crossing

Mark Bresciano eat your heart out - Zullo's got big looping crosses, tiny weasely little crosses, slotted through balls, reverse googlys, penetrating in-swingers. He gets more swing on some of those balls than Cameron Bancroft could if he sanded them all day.  

The timing of his runs was also superb, hanging out back before bursting forward into space at just the right moment. If the Sky Blues had a Josh Kennedy up front, they could have won 4-1.