Melbourne Heart remain rooted to the foot of the A-League standings following a narrow 2-1 defeat to Sydney FC at the Allianz Stadium.
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The clash looked poised to be all square at the interval, only for the hosts to hit a quick-fire double courtesy of Alessandro Del Piero and Ranko Despotovic.
The Juventus legend produced a fine solo effort to open the scoring on 43 minutes, before his strike partner doubled the advantage moments before the break by slotting beyond Andrew Redmayne.
Harry Kewell spurned the opportunity to halve the deficit midway through the second half by shooting wide from the penalty spot, before former Coventry City forward Michael Mifsud sparred his teammate's blushes by rounding goalkeeper Vedran Janjetovic to spark aspirations of a comeback.
However, Mifsud missed a gilt-edged chance to draw level two minutes later by firing over the bar from close range.
It was as close as the visitors would come to restoring parity as Frank Farina's men held on to move to third in the A-League table, six points adrift of leaders Brisbane Roar.
Shane Callaghan
