The two sides previously played out a 1-1 draw at the same ground in round five of the season when Ulises Davilla’s fifth-minute penalty cancelled out by Ola Toivonen’s 66th-minute solo effort.

With Robbie Kruse, Andrew Nabbout and Kristjen Dobras all missing that encounter, Victory Head Coach Marco Kurz insisted in the aftermath that his side’s quality “was coming.”

Much to the chagrin of Victory fans, though, that quality has largely failed to materialise for his side as a collective, with the addition of the trio failing to arrest a form slump that saw the four-time A-League champions enter the round second-bottom of the table.

Conversely, after a shaky early start, the ‘Nix’s green shoots are obvious and came into the match on the back of three-straight wins which taken them inside the top six. In contrast to Kurz, Ufuk Talay seemed to be adjusting to the challenges of life in a new job with aplomb.

And as the two sides locked horns in front of 12,023 at AAMI Park, their divergent forms played out on the pitch: Victory sputtering and stuttering in their attempts to build momentum while the ‘Nix flashed with constant danger.

Somehow, the hosts were able to hold out and take a point from the game but, when observed in context, it provides yet another disturbing example of the challenges being faced by the A-League heavyweights in 2019/20.

Indeed, at times, Victory’s attempts to get things going and play the ball out from the back in the face of Phoenix’s press were almost comical.

Passively knocking the ball from left to right and back again as Migjen Basha and Jakob Poulsen failed to present a clear outlet, Victory on several occasions coughed the ball up in positions that, on another occasion or against more lethal opposition, would have been punished severely.

A perfect example of this was given in the 28th minute when a haphazard pair of passes from James Donachie and Leigh Broxham put Basha under significant pressure from Jaushua Sotirio and forced the Albanian international to cough the ball up.

Breaking quickly into a three on two situation, all Sotirio had to do was slide the ball across to Davilla on his left and the ‘Nix would likely have taken the lead but, alas for the Kiwis, he instead hesitated, played the ball to David Ball on his right and Victory survived.

The moment was also indicative of the Kiwis' efforts.

While Talay’s side showed themselves capable of moving the ball up from the backline and through their midfield, their inability to find a final, killer pass – or one moment of fortune led them to become unstuck as they attempted to turn their play into goals.

Their best chance of the contest arrived in the 52nd minute when a corner from Reno Piscopo corner from the left was met by a Luke De Vere header that crashed off the bar, onto the goal line and back into play.

Matti Steinmann was then unable to fire in a follow-up effort.

Nonetheless, despite their inability to play out from the back or control the game, Victory did have some clear chances to score.

Ola Toivonen had a driven shot just saved by a diving Stefan Marinovic in the 17th minute, Kristijan Dobras had an effort career off the frame of the goal in the 45th minute and Toivonen, with the last kick of the opening stanza, flashed a freekick just wide of the goals.

Unfortunately for the hosts, none of the chances were the result of or led to sustained periods of control of the game.

The dominant storyline of the contest, though, was the growing spite between its belligerents.

Hinted at in the early stages, a missed call when Tim Payne cleaned up Kruse just on the edge of the area served as the flame to light the kindling: a shoving match between Donachie and Steinmann following a foul by the former on Ball leading to yellow cards for both.

Three minutes later Basha received a yellow and moments into the second half Dobras followed - referee Stephen Lucas clearly struggling to maintain control of the game.  

On the hour mark, a flying, kung-fu-like attempt to win the ball by Dobras resulted in the midfielder’s boot landing squarely on the chest and arm of Cameron Devlin, earning the under pressure foreigner his marching orders in what could be his final match in a Victory shirt.

The action didn’t stop there, however, with Nabbout, Sotirio, Toivonen, Broxham and Poulson all receiving cautions as emotions threatened to bubble over in the game’s final stages.

The anger of the Victory players was reflected by their fans when the final whistle blew.

Despite somehow coming away with a point, the fans boos as Lucas's whistle rang out made clear that they weren't happy with the direction of the proud club. 

Whether that anger in Victory's direction is reflected in the board room – and Kurz remains in charge for next week’s Christmas Derby – remains to be seen.