A-League: Pressure from start in the big blue final

Kiwi Kosta Barbarouses (pictured) will line up for Melbourne Victory, while Shane Smeltz will play for Sydney FC. Photo / Getty Images

In a decade of A-League big blues, the only constant has been pressure.

Pressure to be the biggest and best in the competition.

Pressure to sign the biggest stars, to capture the imagination.

Pressure that comes with expectations.

Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC held court in the first five A-League seasons, sharing four championships to cement their status as the league's power houses.

In the four since, neither featured on grand final day - a streak that ends tomorrow.

The meeting of the Sky and Navy Blues is a replay of the 2010 decider, the first A-League grand final to be decided on penalties.

Sydney's Simon Colosimo, who won the Joe Marston Medal for best player on the field, said three meetings between the teams in the previous month meant the battle lines were well drawn.

"It was very much a game of chess," he said. "One of those games that had constant pressure, it was very intense, the whole way through."

After an hour, the breakthrough came from Mark Bridge.

He nodded home past Victory's Mitchell Langerak just 30 seconds after Roddy Vargas's goal was ruled offside for the home side.

Stalwart Adrian Leijer headed home an 81st-minute equaliser, sending the match to extra time and then penalties.

That put Sydney FC goalkeeper Clint Bolton front and centre and his enduring memory came from Victory's first spot kick, taken by Kevin Muscat.

"I'd faced quite a few of his pens before and each time he'd sent me the wrong way," Bolton said.

Muscat, now coach of Victory but still with more A-League penalties than anyone, shot right as Bolton dived left.

But the ball rattled off the post, giving Sydney the advantage.

Bolton said his reaction was "sheer surprise".

"From there it just felt like things were going our way," he said.

Bolton made the only save of the shoot-out as Sydney FC triumphed 4-2.

Alongside Archie Thompson, Leigh Broxham is the only surviving member of the Victory team from the 2010 grand final.

The tenacious midfielder played the 120 minutes through to extra time and score his penalty, to no avail.

Broxham said he had long ago recovered from the loss but, at the time, it hurt unlike any experience in his career.

With two 3-3 draws behind the sides this season, the 2015 grand final is more likely to be a display of attacking talent.

But Bolton said the intensity would still be there.

"The history between these two teams suggests nothing different," he said.

"I hope this game goes an extra 30 minutes because it's going to be highly enjoyable to watch."

- AAP