Central Coast Mariners owner Mike Charlesworth made an extraordinary admission during the week, revealing he's given coach Tony Walmsley a mandate to entertain at all costs. Even if it means losing.
Perhaps then it came as no surprise when, down to 10 men by half-time against Sydney FC, the Mariners boss threw on an attacking player to replace a defensive one.
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Local hero returns to haunt Mariners
Former Central Coast stalwart Matt Simon comes back to haunt his old A-League club, scoring a late double for Sydney FC.
Crazy? Maybe. It's seat-of-your-pants time in Gosford. All things considered, that's got to be good thing. And more entertaining than the new James Bond film, which Charlesworth counts as direct competition for bums on seats.
But like any good Bond film, there was a villain: the good guy turned bad. It just had to be Matt Simon, the Mariners' all-time top scorer, who decided the match for his new club.
Coming on as a second half-substitute, the Sydney striker found himself in space on the edge of the box after a great pass from Filip Holosko, with some eight minutes left on the clock. He nailed a splendid shot in front of the palm trees and sauce bottles.
He tried to be muted in his celebration but emotion overwhelmed him, and he clenched his fist towards the sky. The Mariners had released him, after all, not the other way around.
Six minutes later, he grabbed another one. Mickael Tavares raced down the sideline and curled his cross right onto the unmarked Simon's head.
Graham Arnold, who got the best from the striker when he was coaching the Mariners, couldn't help but let the home bench have it. Some serious pent up emotion was on show.
"When I brought him on, I just said to him, "I know the scene is set. The scene is set for you." He said: "Don't worry, I'll go out and win it for you,'" Arnold said. "I'm happy that's it happened for him because he's had a really bad year … I received a phone call from him in the middle of August saying nobody in the A-League wanted him.
"He even offered his services to the Mariners for minimum wage, just to stay to the Coast because he loved this club so much. And they turned him away. I know how it feels for him because he was looking forward to this game for a long time."
But Charlesworth can be contented how the game engaged from the first whistle to the last and not one of the 10,030 who bought a ticket would complain about the show. There was one sticking point, however.
Referee Adam Fielding has enjoyed a good start to his career as a referee but he'll hope to avoid a posting in Gosford in the coming months.
His decision to show Nick Fitzgerald two yellow cards and not give a penalty to Roy O'Donovan left home fans furious. Walmsley and his assistant, John Hutchinson, nearly needed restraining. Fourth official Kris Griffiths-Jones might want to get his left ear cleaned out on Monday.
"We can't assume players have taken a dive. You've got to be absolutely certain. 'Fitzy' doesn't dive," Walmsley said. "That was tough to cop. The penalty decision was tough but we were pretty resilient after that. We reset at half-time, frustrated them and could have got something on the break. But after their second goal, it was difficult to push on from there."
But the Mariners should have hit the lead on 20 minutes, when O'Donovan was placed into space thanks to a beautiful pass from Fabio Ferreira.
The Irishman had almost too much time to steady himself, and rather than calmly slotting past the stranded Vedran Janjetovic, he ballooned his effort way over the crossbar.
Ten minutes later, Sydney FC produced a premium chance of their own. Marquee Filip Holosko broke clear of Josh Rose with a splendid turn on the right. The angle of his forward entry left him in two minds, however, and the Slovakian couldn't decide whether to cross or shoot.
Still, the goals were about to come, and Holosko would have a big hand in Sydney's opener.
Receiving a throw in out wide, he had the presence of mind to back-heel into the path of Alex Brosque, who found Shane Smeltz in the perfect position. The Kiwi striker doesn't miss too many and, from six years out, he wasn't going to miss this.
Sydney fans were still celebrating and Mariners fans still with their heads in their hands when the scores, remarkably, were levelled.
Under a minute later, Ferreira, who had looked threatening all half, burned off Brandon O'Neill and made it all the way into the box, taking a moment to cut back for O'Donovan. He made up for his earlier shocker by converting without incident.
O'Donovan was again in the play when brought down by Janjetovic for what seemed a certain penalty. Fielding waved play on – and then put the Mariners out of the contest.
He swiftly issued Fitzgerald two yellow cards, one for simulation, another for a crude physical challenge on Milos Dimitrjevic soon after.
It was going to be hard for the hosts after that. If only Matt Simon was still wearing yellow.