Hiroshi Ibusuki was the star of the show for Adelaide United against Sydney FC in the A-League Men Unite Round, grabbing a hat-trick in an impressive 4-3 win.
The Japanese forward's first three-goal haul in the competition helped move Adelaide up to fifth spot on the table at Allianz Stadium on Saturday night.
The result was Sydney's first loss in four games after an encouraging goal-laden run under new coach Ufuk Talay.
But even with injuries depleting his squad, Talay will be frustrated with his side who were flattered by two late goals from Joe Lolley.
Sydney began in impressive fashion, with Rhyan Grant playing Anthony Caceres in down the left and the midfielder guiding the ball into the bottom corner to put the Sky Blues 1-0 up after just six minutes.
Fabio Gomes nearly doubled Sydney's lead soon after but the towering Brazilian forward blazed his shot over the bar.
It was a mistake he would come to rue as Adelaide began to threaten and eventually got their reward, Ben Halloran crossing to the back post where Ibusuki was able to level.
The pair combined again soon after, with Halloran knocking down a ball for the Japanese striker inside the box.
Ibusuki turned sharply and buried his shot beyond the reach of Andrew Redmayne.
Sydney captain Luke Brattan was booked after flattening Adelaide teenager Nestory Irankunda and that seemed to spark the Bayern Munich-bound youngster into life.
When Ibusuki burst down the left, Irankunda waited and timed his run to perfection for a cross that evaded the Sydney defence and Redmayne.
Try as Grant might, he couldn't stop Irankunda's shot from going over the line as the 17-year-old wheeled away and celebrated with his customary backflip.
The winger began the second half in similarly menacing fashion before being taken off with less than 25 minutes to go.
Gomes went close for Sydney and Patrick Wood had a goal chalked off for offside, but Adelaide hit the Sky Blues on the counter with Ibusuki bringing up his hat-trick.
Lolley nabbed one back for Sydney with quarter-of-an-hour to go and then added a flattering second four minutes into added time.
Adelaide, however, were able to hold on and celebrate a first win in four games.