Sometimes in sport, and in life, victory or defeat is the matter of the slimmest of margins.
And so it was for Brisbane Roar and the Western Sydney Wanderers in the first match of the A-League finals.
The regulation 90 minutes saw the teams finish with one goal each.
Thirty minutes of extra-time saw no further goals.
And even the standard five penalties each in the subsequent penalty shootout couldn't break the tie.
But in sudden-death penalties, Brisbane's Tommy Oar made his penalty and then Roar reserve goalkeeper Jamie Young proved the unexpected hero, saving Jumpei Kusikami's penalty and making sure of victory.
Roar coach John Aloisi credits Young, but also believes his side truly earned their victory.
"I was confident he was going to save at least one penalty because that's the character he's got, that he believes he's going to win football games for you. And he did that. The luck went our way because we were very good after that first half."
Brisbane's prize for victory is a match against Melbourne Victory next weekend, although that's made more difficult with the matter of an away Asian Champions League match for the Roar mid-week.
The winner of that match will play in the Grand Final against the winner of the Sydney versus Perth semi-final, also next weekend.
Perth earnt the right to play the premiers after beating Melbourne City 2-0, with Diego Castro and Joel Chianese the goal-scorers.
In the AFL, two teams emerge from five weeks of the competition without a loss.
One is the Adelaide Crows, their latest triumph a 67-point thrashing of Gold Coast.
The other is Geelong, an old favourite at the apex of the sport in recent times.
Their latest triumph: a 38-point win over St Kilda.
Captain Joel Selwood led the way with 43 disposals.
Scarily for future opponents, he's told Channel Seven his players only hit their stride towards the end of the match.
"We just probably played into their hands a little bit in the first half, tried to move the ball on a little bit quicker than what we would have liked. And probably even the first part of that third quarter, it was a bit the same. But, finally (we) grinded it out. And (it was) another good last 40 minutes by the boys."
In rugby league, times have been tough recently for the Wests Tigers.
Star players Aaron Woods, James Tedesco, and Mitchell Moses all look like they'll be playing elsewhere soon, giving new coach Ivan Cleary a big task in rebuilding the club.
But this weekend, they rose to the occasion, ending Canterbury's three-match winning streak, beating them 18-12.
Club captain Woods, ironically, looks like he'll be leaving the Tigers for Canterbury next year and was spotted having coffee with Canterbury player David Klemmer and others in the lead-up to this match.
But, after helping defeat his possible future employers, he's told Fox Sports the recent fuss won't distract him from his present job.
"It's just part of footy in this day and age. I got caught having a coffee with one of my best mates. But, at the end of the day, I'm there to play football, and that's what I'll do week in and week out."
And in rugby union, a shocking slip-up in Sydney.
We refer, of course, to the New South Wales Waratahs - or, as they're being called in the wake of their latest performance, the Horror-tahs.
At home, they've managed to lose to the lowly Kings side from South Africa, 26-24.
That leaves the alleged glamour side of the Australian conference in fourth place in the standings amongst the five Australian teams.
Speaking to Fox Sports after the shock defeat, team captain Michael Hooper didn't hold back and wasn't afraid to put blame on himself and his fellow forwards.
"That was a pretty embarrassing performance by us there. Our set-piece is terrible at the moment- a lot of talk, not much action there."
And if you want to know what a low ebb Australian rugby is at currently, consider this.
The ACT Brumbies lead the Australian conference with 17 competition points from eight games.
That's the same number of points from the same number of games as the Auckland Blues, who are coming last in the New Zealand conference.
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