Brisbane Roar have sealed the A-League minor premiership without kicking a ball on Friday night after second-placed Central Coast Mariners' torrential rain-affected 1-1 draw with Melbourne Heart at AAMI Park.
The Roar now can't be caught for top spot on the ladder, with the Mariners eight points behind them with two fixture matches remaining.
There is no such clarity for either the Heart or Mariners following their draw, with the Heart's top six hopes now left to mathematics.
While the Mariners remain in pole position to finish second and claim the double chance as they extended their lead over third-placed Adelaide United to four points, the Heart's situation
is just as uncertain but now entirely reliant on other results.
They sit seventh - one point behind Wellington Phoenix in the race for the final top six spot - but the New Zealand side have two games in hand.
A match which kicked off more than an hour late because of a huge rainstorm which hit AAMI Park 45 minutes before the scheduled start was well worth the wait.
Both sides played open football from start to finish, and both goals came in a 60-second period just after halftime in teeming rain which made the match a goalkeeper's nightmare.
Heart took the lead on 49 minutes when Matt Thompson struck a free-kick from 60 metres out which skidded over the head of Mariners keeper Mathew Ryan, then eluded the youngster a second time to cross the line as he tried to fish it away from the net.
But a minute later, the Mariners were level after Josh Rose took advantage of some slack marking down the left.
His cross found striker Daniel McBreen, who forced Clint Bolton to parry from close range straight back to him and make no mistake with the second shot at goal.
Both sides had plenty of chances to find a winner.
Heart defender Aziz Behich twice cleared off the line in the second half.
Ryan made amends for his earlier mistake with a superb save to deny Heart their best chance with 10 minutes remaining - tipping midfielder Wayne Srhoj's shot around the post.
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