Melbourne Heart has produced a stirring comeback to earn a 2-2 draw with crosstown rivals Melbourne Victory in a Saturday night Derby thriller at Etihad Stadium.
In front of a record 32,231 crowd, the third Melbourne Derby had everything a football fan could want.
Brilliant goals, absorbing end to end play, some flares thrown in, nine bookings and yeah, a send-off.
The man involved – Melbourne Victory captain Kevin Muscat, was marched off 12 minutes from time for a crude challenge on Heart's Adrian Zahra.
But with 10 men, the Victory held out resolutely down the stretch to take a point from a match that 31 minutes in they looked like getting three from when they led 2-0.
Danny Allsopp opened Victory's account when he headed home Matthew Kemp's cross at the far post in the 11th minute.
They doubled their advantage thanks to what can only be described as a Carlos Hernandez special on 31 minutes.
The Costa Rican tends to save his best for Etihad and pulled a stunning 25-metre free-kick out of his sizeable bag of tricks that went like tracer bullet past the despairing Heart keeper Clint Bolton into the top right-hand corner.
But the goal didn't come without some controversy as Muscat appeared to lay a rugby tackle on Wayne Srhoj which caused a break in the Heart wall that Hernandez exploited to perfection.
Playing for their season, Heart responded and dragged a goal back with virtually the final touch of the first-half through John Aloisi.
In the second minute of stoppage time, Brazilian Alex Terra knocked the ball up for himself then launched an acrobatic bicycle kick across the box onto the head of Aloisi, and the former Qantas Socceroo did the rest.
Aloisi proved why he is the man for the big occasion just six minutes into the second stanza when he again bobbed up at the far post to head home Heart's second goal.
After Simon Colosimo's header rebound off the bar, central defender Michael Beauchamp was able to fashion a cross over his right shoulder and it was that man Aloisi who was in the right place at the right time.
Having levelled proceedings, Heart set about trying to find a winner with a number of searching forward forays as the clock ran down.
Dutchman Gerald Sibon came close, but it was Terra who spurned Heart's best two second-half chances, letting the Victory off the hook on 85 minutes after being presented with a one-on-one opportunity against stopper Michael Petkovic.
The draw leaves Victory in fifth place with 34 points from 26 matches, one place clear of the Heart who have 33 points from 27 games.
Newcastle Jets can go ahead of both clubs if they beat Gold Coast in their game later on Saturday night.