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.