90+4 min: Typical Berisha. Love him or hate him, there’s no denying the impact he has on games. And then he gives an indication of bad Besart with a flare up almost immediately after, although he escapes sanction from referee Beath.

90 min: Six minutes of added time to be played. Six! Not sure about that, but it’s good news for the home side.

88 min: Victory bring on George Howard for Ben Khalfallah. The youngster’s sporting a bad teenage moustache, although you can’t criticise him as it’s no doubt as part of some calendar-based hair-growth charity challenge.

86 min: If there is a goal left in this match, surely it’s going to come from Sydney’s left. Gersbach once more hoons off on a run to the byline before centres and it’s put behind for a corner. How many times have I typed words to that effect tonight?

85 min: Sydney make another change now with Tavares brought off and replace by Brandon O’Neill, who has the grand total of five minutes to make an impact.

83 min: That man Gersbach fires in a wonderful ball (again) which Simon nearly gets on the end of. Surely there’s another goal in this one.

82 min: Barberouses’ touch lets him down but the ball still finds its way to Berisha, who looks to add his name to the scoresheet for a second time tonight. He slips though, and it’s clear how much that frustrates him.

81 min: Into the last 10 minutes and time is running out for Sydney, who will be very sore to lose this one, given they’ve had the lead twice during the course of the evening.

79 min: Barberouses is booked for trying to delay play. Sure he’ll take that one for the team.

78 min: And that’s it for Holosko, who doesn’t make it back on after having been administered an impressively sized bandage to the head. George Blackwood comes on to replace him.

76 min: Holosko is down, apparently in some discomfort, and replays show he took a blow to the face from Mahazi. Unintentional, for sure, but still a nasty one for the Sydney marquee man.

75 min: So nearly the equaliser, again! Gerbach’s ball into the middle very nearly finds Simon but it’s scrambled behind for a corner instead. Sydney’s pressure has not eased up after Victory’s goal.

73 min: Ninkovic chests down the ball in the Victory box, but he’s closed down quickly and doesn’t have time to get off a shot.

71 min: So nearly the equaliser as Broxham almost turns into his own net from a Grant cross into the mixer. Only Vukovic’s excellent reflex save spares the Victory man his blushes!

69 min: And with Sydney chasing the game and in need of a hero, a match-winner, who does Graham Arnold turn to? Matt Simon, of course. (Never thought I’d type that.) He comes on for Shane Smeltz.

67 min: It’s got to be said, Sydney look good at the moment. They’re winning back possession with ease and once they’ve got the ball at their feet, they look composed.

65 min: Gersbach again earns his crust as he wins another corner for Sydney, off Barberouses. This time, though, Vukovic isn’t troubled as he claims easily enough.

63 min: Holosko now goes into the book and moment later boos ring out again at Allianz as Kevin Muscat’s face is beamed onto the big screens at either end of the ground.

62 min: Sydney are all over Victory at the moment! A big shout (from the crowd at least) goes up as Delpierre slides in on Smeltz as the Kiwi shapes to pull the trigger, but the referee waves play on. And that’s probably the right decision.

60 min: Off the woodwork twice in a matter of seconds! First Smeltz’s diving header at the back stick canons back off the upright, and then Jurman’s effort on the follow up strikes the other post! Incredible action!

59 min: Brosque gets his head to the corner, but his effort lands on the top of Vukovic’s goal. For some reason, Sydney are awarded another corner.

58 min: Ninkovic takes the ball down well, on the run, and just as it seems he might unleash a volley, he takes another touch before pulling the trigger. Deflected behind for a corner.

57 min: Ninkovic and Dimitrijevic combine to feed Smeltz, who shimmies this way and that before doing not much and the move breaks down.

56 min: Mahazi gets a stern talking to from the ref but he manages to escape a booking. That won’t be the case if he errs again.

55 min: Delpierre makes an odd error as he opts to cross the ball into his own box. He’s bailed out by Broxham with Smeltz sniffing around, but that really could have been disastrous for Victory.

53 min: Simon Hill has just informed viewers that the rain has abated, which is great news for at least one liveblogger who doesn’t own a brolly and needs to get home later tonight.

52 min: Gersbach shows the other side of his game as he muscles Georgievski off the ball and then wins a free-kick. The 18-year-old’s had an impressive game tonight.

50 min: Nice first touch from Barberouses, under pressure from behind, to control the ball and make a neat layoff.

49 min: Here goes Gerbach again, started the second half in the same manner he did the first – on the front foot, making headway down the Sydney left. He wins a corner for his efforts, but nothing comes of it.

48 min: It opens up for a moment for Holosko, but as quickly as the door opened, it is shut, probably slammed, because doors can’t be closed in football without a degree of ferocity.

47 min: Ben Khalfallah hits the deck under no challenge at all here and fortunately the referee isn’t hoodwinked into giving a free-kick.

46 min: One change to tell you about at the break: Barberouses is on, for Deng. Broxham looks like he’s dropped back into defence, to replace Deng.

45+1 min: Brosque picks up a silly caution as he talks himself into the referee’s book after a decision goes against him that he’s not too happy about.

44 min: Another email, this time from friend of the MBM, Phil Withall, who writes in to express “mild concerns” regarding Graham Arnold. “He seems to have partially abandoned his suffocating tactics and is using a mild choking method instead. I’m not convinced that the world is ready for such boldness. He’s probably only doing it to wind up Muscat.” Perhaps he’s been watching Ronda Rousey in training this week, Phil.

42 min: Gersbach has Vukovic flapping with a cross from one side before Grant balloons one over the bar from the other.

41 min: Berisha executes a lovely (original) Ronaldo stepover to get past Faty in an effort to fashion enough space to get a shot off. He half succeeds, but when he lets fly, his effort is blocked.

40 min: Dimitrijevic stands over a free-kick with an authority not entirely befitting of his dead ball efforts tonight... he leaves it to Brosque in the end, but the Sydney captain’s shot on goal is easily dealt with by Vikovic.

39 min: Rhyan Grant is in danger of bursting a lung here, as he sprints away towards the Victory goal line in a bid to retrieve a mis-placed Dimitrijevic pass that is always going out of play. 110% from the full-back, 11/10 for effort, and other such football cliches apply.

38 min: We’re in the midst of something of a lull in the match at the moment. Which is understandable given how hectic is was getting earlier.

37 min: No goals.

35 min: Grant again tries to muscle his way past Murnane but this time he has no joy.

34 min: The aggrieved party – Dimitrijevic – shrugs off the foul to take the free-kick himself, but it’s absolute rubbish and this attempted delivery into the box sails over the assembled masses’ heads and out for a goal kick.

33 min: Finkler hauls down Dimitrijevic and that’ll be the second yellow of the night.

30 min: Guus Hiddink is in attendance tonight. Could be here for some anniversary or something.

29 min: What a game this is turning out to be, in terms of entertainment. There may be a few question marks over some of the defending/goalkeeping, but what the hell. We’ve got goals! Loads of them! And there’s not even half an hour on the clock.

26 min: Tavares becomes the first man to have a slice of American cheese waved in his face. And Victory can take a breath.

25 min: Victory just looking to settle themselves now – that Brosque goal gave Sydney a real lift and they were looking like getting a third.

23 min: Here come Sydney again as Gersbach looks to do some more damage down the left. No dice this time, but as they’ve just pointed out on the telly, the hosts’ full-backs have done brilliantly so far tonight.

21 min: This is getting quite frenetic now. An Alex Brosque song goes up to the tune of Joy Division’s Love Will Tear You Apart before boos ring out as Smeltz is pulled up for a foul.

19 min: Grant does brilliantly again as he hassles and harries Murnane off the ball before sliding in to cross the ball across the face of goal. There’s no one there immediately to get on the end of it, but the ball comes back in to Holosko eventually. His effort skids the wrong side of the post though.

17 min: I’m really not sure who’s on top at the moment – both sides have had their chances, and neither has managed to stamp any kind of authority on play in the middle of the park.

16 min: Deng attempts an audacious volley from the edge of box, the kind of audacious volley only the young and inexperienced can even contemplate. His effort is sliced and flies high and wide of Janjetovic’s goal.

14 min: Phew. This really does look like it could end up quite a high-scoring game.

12 min: Look at Rhyan Grant! He surges forward in that particular way only defenders can, pushing the ball ahead of each opposition tackle by the finest of margins. He runs out of steam eventually though, and offloads out wide, and the eventual cross is fisted clear by Vukovic.

10 min: Um, so this is quite a start to the game. Those who have braved the rain are already being rewarded. And those in the comfort of their homes might be ruing their decision to do so.

6 min: Well, well, well. Superb stuff from the youngster from the Shire Gersbach there. Another colleague, Martin Farrer, texts in to let us know: “A wet night in November. What football is all about.” Martin, it should be noted, is from the north-east of England, where “wet nights in November” persist all year round.

4 min: Sydney now just play the ball around the back, until Faty comes forward and plays it to Grant. His attempted ball into the box doesn’t quite reach its intended target though.

3 min: Berisha hits the deck in the Sydney box but it’s all above board, in terms of Sydney’s defending. There’s going to be plenty of slips tonight, given the greasy nature of the turf tonight.

2 min: The first free-kick of the night goes Victory’s way, but it’s a poor delivery from Finkler and nothing comes of it.

1 min: Berisha gets the ball straight from kick-off, puts his head down and runs direct into a sea of Sydney shirts. He’s stopped in his tracks pretty much immediately, but you have to admire who is pretty much the only professional footballer in the world who thinks he can take on an entire team from the kick-off.

A French flag is seen in the crowd as Matthieu Delpierre, Fahid Ben Khalfallah, Mikael Tavares and Jacques Faty walk out with their respective team-mates and the minute’s silence begins.

The teams are lining up in the tunnel, Victory in all white on the night, Sydney in their usual sky blue shirts. Look lads, just get out there, no point waiting for the rain to stop.

And there’s the ‘R’ word, in Simon Hill’s first sentence as he introduces the game on Fox Sports. Revenge – is it a dish best served cold? Difficult to say, given revenge really isn’t a foodstuff. Anyway, whatever your culinary spin on things, victory for Sydney tonight may well go some way to avenging that awful grand final defeat at the end of last season.

And here are telly images of the Cove, clearly taken earlier when it wasn’t sheeting it down, banging drums and making a bit of noise as they cross that new curly-wurly bridge over Anzac Parade on their way into the stadium. Cut to live pictures of the Sydney FC faithful behind the goal, jumping up and down in a display of support for their team to keep warm.

And that rain seems it will have a negative effect on tonight’s turnout. Here’s my colleague Mike Ticher, who’s braved the rain and is in situ at Allianz: “Don’t know what the lowest crowd is for Syd-Vic, but pretty sure we’re about to beat it,” Mike writes.

Weather update: it’s been raining for pretty much the entire week in Sydney, and it’s soggy in the Harbour City, to say the least. And is that the patter of raindrops once again I can hear on the tin roof of Guardian Towers (Sydney branch)? Yes. Yes it is. A slick surface awaits the teams.

Mike will be here before too long to act as your ears and eyes tonight. Before he gets here though, here’s a little something from David Squires to keep you amused, in case you missed it earlier this week: