Six goals, three points to the home team and the chance to witness a piece of A-League history being made.
There was plenty for the Geelong public to like after Melbourne Victory's marquee man Besart Berisha fired himself into Australian soccer history by scoring the first-half penalty that put his side on the way to a 4-2 triumph over the Newcastle Jets in a game that really only caught fire after Berisha's 30th minute opener.
Marco Rojas then Fahid Ben Khalfallah either side of the interval had stretched Victory's lead to three before Lei Lei Ma pulled back what looked to be consolation for the Jets in the 61st minute.
James Troisi made it four for the hosts although the Jets were able to reduce the deficit to two thanks to an own goal by Carl Valeri, who deflected Wayne Brown's 75th minute shot past his own goalkeeper, Lawrence Thomas.
But the narrative of this game hinged on Berisha's quest to become the A League's all time leading goalscorer.
The Melbourne Victory front man had equalled Archie Thompson's all time record of 90 goals two weeks ago, when he scored Victory's opener in the 2-1 derby win over Melbourne City.
Since then he had been marooned, like a batsman in the nervous nineties, needing one more goal to make the mark his own.
He thought he had set a new record in his team's 4-1 win over the Mariners last week, but Central Coast defender Jake McGing had got the decisive touch to what was determined to be an own goal.
So as he and his team-mates headed down the highway for what is now a traditional mid summer fixture in the bayside city, expectation hung heavy.
Would this be the game where Berisha shook the monkey off his back? On form it looked as though it should be a regulation Victory triumph, but the Albanian forward and his coach, Kevin Muscat, know all too well how the football gods frown upon those with too much expectation and sometimes smile on those with the least to look forward to.
And for half an hour it looked as though Berisha would once again be out of luck in what, truth to tell, was a fairly nondescript opening period where Victory had most of the possession, Newcastle offered a few sporadic attacks and any theatregoers in the crowd might have wondered why they had bothered to make the round trip on the off chance that they could say they were present when history was made.
But everything changed in the 29th minute when James Troisi, who was a pivotal figure, along with Marco Rojas, in every Victory attack, found Fahid Ben Khalfallah on the right flank.
The French winger crossed, and referee Chris Beath, much to Newcastle's disgust, pointed to the penalty spot, ruling that the ball had struck John Koutroumbis, the Jets defender, on the arm.
The visitors' protests were to no avail, and up stepped Berisha, fully aware that he was on the verge of history.
His stance aped that of Cristiano Ronaldo before he delivers a set piece – legs akimbo, arms pumped – but his face was a picture of concentration, all focussed eyes, furrowed brow and sucked in cheeks.
Up he stepped, and slammed home right of goalkeeper Jack Duncan before running to the corner flag to celebrate and then stooping to kiss the ground.
Before Berisha had fired himself into history from the penalty spot, Victory had taken control of the game.
The excellent Troisi, who was spraying the ball around with aplomb and playing Berisha into space at every opportunity, was linking up with Marco Rojas, Oliver Bozanic, Fahid Ben Khalfallah and Berisha himself in intricate approach moves that pulled the Jets defence this way and that without finding a way through.
Rojas, like Troisi, has been in excellent form all season, both creating and scoring goals, and he got on the scoresheet again five minutes after Berisha's 30th minute penalty with a volleyed finish that displayed his technique to good effect.
Berisha played a pass through to Troisi, who got clear on the left of the Jets area before driving over a cross. Rojas had to twist his body but made contact and from close range was always going to beat Duncan.
Victory went three up on the hour mark, and this time Rojas was the provider for Ben Khalfallah.
The Kiwi winger made ground on the right and slid a pass across the penalty area to his counterpart on the other flank. Ben Khalfallah didn't strike the ball as hard as he might, but Duncan could only parry it before watching the ball squirm out of his control and over the line.
That was really that, although to their credit the Jets found a way to put some respectability on the scoreline, striking back to score within a minute of Ben Khalfallah through Chinese import Lei Lei Ma.
The forward had come on to replace Andrew Nabbout, who had endured a rather anonymous evening against his old club, and took his chance well, making space outside the area to fire past Lawrence Thomas in the Victory goal.
Any hope of a Newcastle revival were quickly snuffed out in the 69th minute when Troisi finally broke through for his first goal of the season.
The attacking midfielder has been in stand-out form all campaign and has done everything but hit the target, but he made no mistake this time after substitute Jai Ingham's heavy touch saw the ball break free in the Jets penalty area.
Troisi fastened on to the loose ball, glided forward and finished with venom into the top corner, giving Duncan no chance.
Wayne Brown added more respectability to the scoresheet when he drove forward with a quarter of an hour to go and shot into the area, his effort taking a big deflection from Victory skipper Valeri to wrongfoot Thomas.
But it was too little too late, and Victory continue their now seven game unbeaten run, in which they have won six and drawn one, earning a haul of 19 points from a possible 21.
Their last league defeat was two months ago, in controversial circumstances against runaway leaders Sydney, and they now look like the team best equipped to hunt down Graham Arnold's side.
Sydney sit atop the A League ladder with 33 points from their 13 games, while Victory lead the chasing pack with 26 points from 12 games. If they can win their game in hand, against Wellington, that margin will be cut to four points and in this vein of form Muscat's men will back themselves to close the gap still further.
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