Melbourne Victory have spoiled Sydney FC's return to the newly rebuilt Allianz Stadium, inflicting a 3-2 defeat on their rivals to begin their A-League Men campaign with a bang.
Chris Ikonomidis proved the difference for Tony Popovic's side, scoring his first ALM goal since 2019 and setting up Josh Brillante's late winner in a positive second-half cameo on a rain-soaked Saturday night.
New Victory signing Nani showed a glimpse of his ability by assisting Ikonomidis in what was a fairly straightforward showing.
Adding insult to the late defeat for Sydney was the loss of captain Alex Wilkinson to a groin injury.
Their fans hurled projectiles at Victory goalkeeper Paul Izzo as he sought to waste time late in the game.
It was an unfitting end to a night that promised so much for the Sky Blues as they began life at their new ground with a revamped tactical blueprint.
Recruit Robert Mak and James Donachie got on the scoresheet for Sydney after being greeted by a banner at their new ground which read: "Our future begins now".
What they saw, for the first half an hour at least, was promising.
Sydney missed the finals in their last campaign for the first time in six years and head coach Steve Corica was tasked with revitalising a stuttering attack.
Slovakian winger Mak scored the opener after a nice one-two with midfielder Patrick Yazbek in the 15th minute and English import Joe Lolley was lively on the other flank.
Victory struggled to mount an attack but got level when Nick D'Agostino glanced a header past the reaches of Sydney keeper Andrew Redmayne to make it 1-1 at halftime.
Wilkinson failed to return in the second half from a suspected groin injury and is likely to join Jack Rodwell, who had been earmarked as the captain's centre back partner, on the sidelines.
The rain didn't help proceedings either, becoming heavier as the second half wore on with footballs and players going where they shouldn't.
There was a collective gasp when referee Chris Beath collided with Sydney defender Rhyan Grant but thankfully both got up unscathed.
Victory had few opportunities to grab a second but when they did they made it count as Nani crossed to Ikonomidis at the back post in the 67th minute.
Sydney equalised through a well-taken header from centre back James Donachie not long after but Victory had other ideas.
Ikonomidis stretched the Sydney defence before crossing for Brillante to fire past Redmayne and send the travelling Victory fans into a frenzy.
