The most maligned grand final in A-League Men history has delivered an on-field shock that sent Central Coast into raptures and left a stunned Melbourne City to rue the home decider that should have been.
The lead-up to Saturday's decider was overshadowed by ongoing ill-will regarding the Australian Professional Leagues' controversial decision to sell grand-final hosting rights for the next three grand finals to Destination NSW.
It meant if on paper this was Melbourne City's home grand final, in reality it was all about Central Coast.
In front of a crowd of 26,523 at CommBank Stadium in Sydney, almost all decked in yellow and dark blue, the Mariners delivered a 6-1 rout, with Jason Cummings scoring a hat-trick to win the Joe Marston Medal.
Early on Saturday, City surprised a group of 100 fans bound for Sydney by bus with a charter flight.
While it was a nice touch, it served as a reminder the team who had earned a home grand final would instead be heading into hostile territory.
That was underlined heading into CommBank Stadium and a sea of yellow shirts - some from the highs of 10 years earlier, some from Central Coast's downtrodden lows.
The pro-Mariners crowd delivered a round of boos when the announcer urged City fans to cheer on their team.
"It is what it is," City coach Rado Vidosic said.
"This is going to happen the next two years again.
"So if you want to win the grand final in the next two years, you're gonna have to come back here and try to do it here against probably all odds."
CommBank Stadium even hosted Vanuatu Prime Minister Alatoi Ishmael Kalsakau, who was supporting countryman and Mariners central defender Brian Kaltak.
Twenty minutes into the game, the yellow shirts started getting whipped off, when Cummings toe-poked home.
When Sammy Silvera added a second 14 minutes later, the Mariners fans were whipped into a frenzy.
City struck back through Richard van der Venne just before halftime.
When City's players ran out for the second half, the Mariners substitutes didn't move while warming up, forcing their opponents to go around them.
It set the tone as Central Coast held firm through an early second-half City wave, then wrapped up victory courtesy of two Cummings penalties.
When the announcer proclaimed a substitution for "your" Central Coast Mariners in the 78th minute, it couldn't have been clearer whose home turf this really was.
Silvera brilliantly teed up Beni Nkololo in the 83rd minute before Moresche struck in added time to turn City's grand final night into a "home" humiliation.
"Obviously they were always gonna have more fans, they're only an hour away," City's Mathew Leckie said.
"So we knew that and we've played plenty of games this season away and got a win.
"So it's not an excuse, especially not to concede six goals."
