Two penalties in the last 10 minutes of the match, both expertly dispatched by Ali Abbas, were decisive in the match played in Ballarat in provincial Victoria in front of a crowd of 2800 against the team that was until last season known as Melbourne Heart.

The match was tied after 90 minutes, with a header from City's Nick Kalmar in the 62nd minute cancelling out the classy opener from Sydney striker Gameiro in the 23rd minute.

Gameiro, 21, provided Sydney's opener by beating Andrew Redmayne to a ball in dispute well outside the home goalkeeper's area. He also regained the lead for the visitors by winning the penalty after he was brought down by City's Jason Hoffman, who was powerless to legally stop Gameiro beating him to a loose ball on a fast break with only Redmayne to beat.

Abbas clinically fired his penalty into the bottom right corner of Redmayne's goal. Three minutes later he did the same, after an apparently errant tackle by home captain Robbie Wielart on Terry Antonis, to produce scoreline that did not represent how close the match was for the preceding 109 minutes before Hoffman was red-carded.

Sydney had travelled south without its three most decorated attackers: Shane Smeltz, Alex Brosque and new lanky marquee striker Marc Janko. It did, however, boast former Central Coast Mariner Bernie Ibini who, like Melbourne City's David Williams, had come from the A-League All-Stars squad.

The home team fielded two new players: Damien Duff, signed in the off-season from English Premier League team Fulham, and 23-year-old creative midfielder Aaron Mooy, snared from Western Sydney Wanderers.

An early sign of the grassroots nature of Ballarat's Morshead Park, a venue with grassy mounds in lieu of the grandstand seating the teams are typically accustomed to playing in front of, was the public announcement in the first five minutes of the numberplate of a nearby car that had left its lights on.

The first notable attack came in the ninth minute when City full-back Iain Ramsay streamed forward down the left flank, only to be thwarted just before his intended cross. That intervention was the start of an impressive display from the Sydney defensive line-up of Matt Jurman, Nikola Petkovic, captain Sasa Ognenovski and Seb Ryall.

Eager to capitalise on the early problems Ramsay was causing for Sydney with his pace City coach John van 't Schip switched Duff to that same flank and fellow winger Mate Dugandzic to the other. By the half-hour mark, however, they were back to their original positions after the move made little positive difference.

As the match was the first competitive hit-out for each team this season it was unsurprising both regularly retreated to their goalkeeper when challenged for possession moving into the attacking half.

What began as a possible blow for Sydney after 20 minutes, when the match was halted for Ryall to be assisted after a scything tackle that earned Ramsay a booking, soon turned into the run of play that earned the visitors' the lead.

Nick Carle gained possession in midfield and began a chain of passes which ended in Jurman punting the ball forward in the hole in front of striker Gameiro. City's Redmayne, given a start in goal ahead of Tando Velaphi, sensed and danger and sprinted out of his area trying to kill the ball but was beaten to it by Gameiro. The Sydney player's first-time shot had just enough power for defender Paddy Kisnorbo's sprint back to back and attempted hooked clearance to be in vain as it cross the line just ahead of him.

City increased the intensity of its forward thrusts for the rest of the half but none of them, primarily crosses from the flanks, were of sufficient quality to trouble the Sky Blues' assured defence. Its best chance for the half came when Williams looked to have last man Petkovic beaten for pace down the right, only for the Sydney man to strike the perfect balance between doing just enough with his body to hinder Williams but not enough to concede a free-kick.

City came close to equalising five minutes into the second half when Duff's deft cross from the right found the central located Dugandzic, whose shot was dragged wide.

Duff, who had a quiet first half, produced another crucial touch just before the hour mark when his first-time cross found Murdocca in space down the right. Sadly for the home team the veteran lacked the pace to capitalise on his space and the forward move came to nothing.

City's two most influential players were Mooy and Kalmar in midfield, and it was no surprise it was a combination of the two that earned it parity in the 64th minute. Mooy's sumptuous free-kick from deep on the left-flank was perfectly place for the unmarked Kalmar to meet it with a crisp header that sailed inside Vedran Janjetovic's right post.

The last half-hour was played with a temper that was triggered by Gameiro's late tackle on Kisnorbo, which resulted in a card from referee Shaun Evans and the ire of Kisnorbo's teammates. While Kisnorbo would have cursed his luck in that incident he had cause to be grateful soon after when he sliced a kick onto the post, narrowly avoiding an own goal.

Gameiro came within half a second of firing the matchwinner in the 82nd minute, only for Redmayne to pluck the balls of his toes just before he had the opportunity to shoot. Substitute Chris Naumoff also spurned a chance just before the match went into extra-time.

City made its final change at the start of extra time with Stefan Mauk replacing the impressive Kalmar. New Sydney coach Arnold made his final two moves with 20 minutes remaining: Pedj Bojic for Ryall and 17-year-old Alex Gersbach for the hard-working Ibini.

Mooy came close to producing a deserved winner, given his persistent threat, when his rasping long shot flew over Janjetovic's bar just before the change of ends in extra time. In the end, however, Gameiro was just as deserving of the winner's spoils as Mooy was - and got them as Sydney progressed to the round of 16 and City was eliminated.

SYDNEY FC 3 (Gameiro 23', Abbas 111' pen, Abbas 114' pen) defeated MELBOURNE CITY 1 (Kalmar 64')

MELBOURNE CITY: Andrew Redmayne; Jason Hoffman, Patrick Kisnorbo, Robbie Wielart (c), Iain Ramsay; Nick Kalmar (Stefan Mauk 91'), Massimo Murdocca; Aaron Mooy; Damien Duff (James Brown 11'), David Williams (Ben Garruccio 81'), Mate Dugandzic. Unused substitutes: Tando Velaphi, Ross Archibald
SYDNEY FC: Vedran Janjetovic; Matt Jurman, Nikola Petkovic, Sasa Ognenovski (c), Seb Ryall (Pedj Bojic 95'); Hagi Gligor, Terry Antonis, Ali Abbas; Nick Carle (Chris Naumoff 77'); Bernie Ibini (Alex Gersbach 100'), Corey Gameiro. Substitutes: Ivan Necevski, Peter Triantis.

YELLOW CARDS
CITY: Ramsay (20'). SYDNEY: Gameiro (72'), Ibini (90').

RED CARDS
CITY: Hoffman (110').

REFEREE: Shaun Evans

CROWD: 2800 at Morshead Park, Ballarat.