The win by second-placed Sydney in Wellington just before kick-off at AAMI Park technically gave the Sky Blues a chance to snare the Premier's Plate, by drawing level with Victory on 50 points for the season. But given Victory's huge goal-difference buffer — anything less than a seven-goal loss to the Mariners would still given them victory — the bigger implications was Wellington ceding third place to Adelaide United.

The change meant the Reds will face Brisbane Roar in an elimination final on Friday night at Adelaide Oval, with the Phoenix to host Melbourne City on Sunday evening at Westpac Stadium.

Victory's iron grip on the plate did not make their supporters in any way nonchalant about the result on the day; they badly wanted the win to put them clear atop the ladder and justify the exuberant atmosphere they provided.

Their players were unable to break the deadlock in the opening half-hour but were not lacking for effort. The first 10 minutes was played almost exclusively in the visitors' half, with frontmen Besart Berisha and Kosta Barbarouses each having shots at goal.

Excepting the yellow cards issued to Josh Rose and captain John Hutchison there was little of individual note from any of the Mariners. Together, however, they had held firm, enough to quieten if not silence the crowd.

Two goals in three minutes just after the opening half-hour, from Daniel Georgievski and Archie Thompson, revitalised the crowd and, despite the Mariners pulling a goal back through a deflected Eddy Bosnar free-kick just before the break, strengthened the sense that there would be no anti-climax for Victory.

Victory's most feted current foreigners, for good reason, are attackers Berisha, Gui Finkler, and Fahid Ben Khalfallah. Sydney-raised Georgievski is part of that group more as a technicality — he has represented Macedonia — but broke the ice with a goal that any of the trio would have been proud to claim as their own. After a purposeful run down the left Georgievski's decision to keep advancing after his pass to Berisha was justified by getting a return pass which he allowed to run across him before delivering a delightful first-time chip that sailed into the top-left corner.

Once the evergreen Thompson added his 88th A-League goal, with the glancing header from a tight angle from his team's seventh corner kick within the first 35 minutes, the chants strengthened in volume and regularity. From "We are champions, yes we are champions!" to "Super, super Kev, Super Kevin Muscat!" the crowd of 22,285 were determined to show their appreciation at their first plate in six years. It peaked in the last 10 minutes when the refrain of "Stand up for the Victory!" was widely heeded.

The spurning of chances in the last five minutes by Thompson and Barbarouses  was an annoyance at the time but quickly forgotten even before referee Peter Green blew the final whistle, Victory the Brave rang out from the speakers and the silverware was delivered. Veteran Thompson's substitution entering injury time was celebrated almost as vociferously as any of the day's goals.