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Defending champions Western United have grabbed a bittersweet 2-1 victory over Perth Glory in the final game of the A-league Men season at HBF Park.
Western picked up the points on Saturday yet it meant little to either club, who both missed out on a finals spot.
But the result and bottom-four finish left Glory having to play in the FA Cup qualifying round play-offs.
Both clubs went into the game knowing any chance of a finals appearance had gone after Wellington Phoenix grabbed a 1-0 win over Macarthur a few hours earlier to secure sixth spot.
Glory had been hoping for a Macarthur victory to give them a sniff of the finals and Western would have been hoping for a miracle, needing to make up a whopping goal difference.
But in the end, it left the two sides with little to play for except pride and bragging rights.
As the curtain came down on the season, both sides were left wondering what might have been.
Glory coach Ruben Zadkovich, in particular, was left ruing his side's poor away record, with just one win in their 13 away games.
Glory never really bothered Western goalkeeper Jamie Young as the visitors created the best first-half chances.
Steven Lustica went close for Western with a curled effort, Alessandro Diamanti, in his last game, fired in a long-range free kick that was easily dealt with by Glory 'keeper Cameron Cook and a cross skidded across Perth's area untouched.
But Cook was at fault when he let a Benjamin Garuccio shot slip between his legs to give Western the lead midway through the opening period.
Glory's Ryan Williams watched his clever chip slip past the post before Cook saved at close range from Dylan Pierias and Jack Clisby cleared Garuccio's shot from the rebound.
Glory equalised against the run of play on the stroke of halftime when Keegan Jelacic intercepted a poor Leo Lacroix clearance to fire home.
Five minutes after the break Glory had a goal ruled out for offside and Noah Botic struck immediately as Western regained the lead.
Glory's cause was not helped when defender Mark Beevers was sent off on the hour after two quick yellow cards, while a penalty claim when Adam Zimarino went down was turned away.
