[2] The A-League National Youth League Grand Final was held at Etihad Stadium prior to the main game.
[3] An early knee injury forced key striker Archie Thompson, who scored 5 goals in the 2007 A-League Grand Final, off the field in the sixteenth minute.
With both teams struggling to break the deadlock, Melbourne were left stunned when Mark Bridge scored a goal in the 63rd minute after a deflected cross.
To add to Melbourne's misfortune, it was scored less than a minute after Rodrigo Vargas' headed goal was correctly disallowed by the assistant referee for offside.
Leijer's late header resulted in some frantic final minutes, but neither team were able to find the breakthrough goal in normal time.