If Monday was a time to recall fond memories, Friday was about settling old scores. John Aloisi, 10 years ago the hero in the Socceroos’ World Cup qualifier against Uruguay, saw his side Brisbane Roar draw 1-1 against his former club Melbourne City. Not the result he wanted, but a respectable comeback against the club that sacked him in December 2013.

This build-up was all about Aloisi. A decade since that penalty ended a 32-year curse on Australian football and turned him into a household name, naturally Aloisi was wheeled out to reflect on the historic moment.

Friday night’s fixture, however, brought more recent history into sharper focus: namely Aloisi’s 17 game winless streak as coach of Melbourne Heart. The horror run in his first season as a head coach – he lost 24 of his 39 games at Heart – threatened to ruin his reputation irreparably. When he was sacked, Heart’s then-chairman Peter Sidwell said, “we’ve all got blood on our hands”.

Much has changed since then. City have famously had a change of owners, while Aloisi has had a mini-renaissance after a period away from the A-League. His brother Ross has joined him as assistant coach in Brisbane, and Aloisi looks rejuvenated and comfortable in his role.

Brisbane Roar, who went into the match equal top of the table with Melbourne Victory, were firm favourites but it was a evenly-matched first half. Brisbane’s front three, Jamie Maclaren, Dimitri Petratos and Brandon Borello, looked dangerous, but lacked finesse and decisiveness in front of goal.

Matt McKay had the first chance in the second minute, flashing a low shot just wide. On the half-hour mark Petratos and Maclaren unsuccessfully peppered City’s goal four times in the space of five minutes, with the latter butchering a point blank header which he really should have buried in the back of the net.

Aaron Mooy, meanwhile, stalked the midfield looking like an undernourished street-urchin searching for pockets to pick. In both first and second half, Brisbane goalkeeper Jamie Young invited attention.

Midway through the first half, under no pressure whatsoever, as Young prepared to throw the ball out from his penalty area, he slipped, collapsed embarrassingly in a heap and released the ball to City’s Uruguayan striker Bruno Fornaroli. The ball ended up with Mooy, who was lurking on the edge of the penalty area, but he turned his shot just wide of the far post.

Just minutes after half-time, again under no pressure, Young was left red-faced as he made a mess of what should have been a regulation restart. Brisbane’s beanpole centre-back Daniel Bowles turned his back on Young, whose short goal-kick bounced off Bowles’ heels to the Artful Dodger Mooy.

After a quick on-two with Fornaroli, Mooy’s shot was stopped by Young, but his save could only be parried as far as Harry Novillo, who poked the ball into the net to make it 1-0 to City. His double-sweatband celebration was a tribute to his countrymen in France after the terrorist attacks on Paris last week.

Brisbane had the better of the play in the second half, and Henrique equalised on 70 minutes. Thomas Broich’s beautiful floated pass found the Brazilian, whose first touch was good and finish was better. The hero in last week’s 1-0 win over Perth Glory, Henrique was again the super-sub at Suncorp Stadium.

While City coach John van ‘t Schip said it was a “fair result”, Aloisi said he was “disappointed we didn’t get the three [points].” Aloisi labelled City’s approach “anti-football” – pointing out that referee Chris Beath gave City players five yellow cards “for pretty cynical fouls”.

“I was surprised they played like that to be honest,” said Aloisi. “There’s one thing about defensive mindset, and there’s one thing about just fouling. That’s the difference. I didn’t have the money that they’ve got to play a certain type of football. I didn’t have that money.”

While Aloisi may not have been impressed with his former club’s performance, his show of emotion on the sideline after Henrique’s goal showed that it was an important goal not just for the point on the ladder, but also for his own pride. Losing to Melbourne City at home, after being the better side on the night, would have been a painful end to an otherwise happy week.