A-League grand final: Perth Glory v Sydney FC

A very good chance for Perth Glory from a short corner kick - Dino Djulbic got his head to it and it was going on target, but was tipped over the bar by Andrew Redmayne for a repeat corner. Best chance of the game so far. This is tense. I imagine a Glory goal will make this joint explode. 

Perth Glory have settled a little better, largely bossing the possession so far and getting more balls into their attacking area. But there's constant turnovers and a lot of openings for the Sky Blues to do their thing. In fact, they nearly did - a great long ball from the back found Milos Ninkovic, who sprung the offside trap with a perfectly-timed run but failed to do much with it. That's a let-off for the Glory.

Great to hear that one of Perth Glory's traditions at HBF Park has carried over to Optus Stadium. At every goal kick for the opposition, the crowd yells out: "You fat bastard! You fat bastard! You're s***! Ahhhhhhhh!" Andrew Redmayne has already copped it a couple of times.

It's a bit lame when there's only 8,000 in the house but with more than 50,000 it packs a bit more of a punch. Especially when being shouted out by rare cats like this:

A lively start already. Jason Davidson gets the first shot off, a left-footed volley after a Sydney defensive clearance header fell his way. It was wide, but a nice shot on goal nonetheless. And Alex Brosque, who will retire after this game, sent a scare through Perth goalkeeper Liam Reddy a few moments later - Reddy was dawdling on the ball for a bit too long and was closed down by a hungry chasing Brosque. The ball deflected out for a corner but that's a warning the Glory will want to heed.

And then! Fourth minute, another great chance for Perth. Davidson sent in a cross from the left, he found Chris Ikonomidis and he rose to get a free header on the ball... but again, wide. What an open game already!

Kick-off, finally, at 6.43pm. Better late than never. The home side gets us underway and the crowd gives us a yell. This game is being beamed into 70 countries, apparently, according to Simon Hill. Let's hope they're all treated to a belter.

A nice touch here - a minute's applause is underway to honour the recent loss of three great men - Perth Glory backroom legend Wynnie Russell, former NSL star David 'Shovel' Cervinski and former Prime Minister Bob Hawke, who got by far the biggest cheer of the three when his legendary mug was shown on the big screen.

Anthem has been sung, and we're about to get started. Looks like a cracking atmosphere. The A-League at its best. 

It's 6.33pm as I type this and kick-off was supposed to be 6.30pm, so when we actually get started is anyone's guess. But the warm-ups have been run and done and Simon Hill's dulcet tones have just come through the TV for the first time tonight and there it is... the players have just walked out onto this reportedly quite hard pitch. It's nearly go-time folks.

Blow me down with a feather - Bossi has chipped in:

"As Ministry of Sound's opening track of Fatboy Slim's "Right here, right now" echoed around Optus Stadium in the pre-game show, the 50,000 parochial Western Australians on hand were hoping that would prove prophetical come full-time. It's been a long time between drinks for the former powerhouse of the old National Soccer League, having had little to celebrate in the A-League era.

That wait has contributed to the tense atmosphere at the ground and already Sydney FC have been given a hint of what's to come. Their entrance and exit from their warm-up was met with a resounding jeer from the stands that are almost entirely purple, save for a hundred or so Sky Blue shirts. In particular, Danny De Silva was the primary target from the Perth boo-boys, returning to his home city hoping to inflict more woes upon his former club, having scored here earlier this season."

Poetic.

Maybe it doesn't translate well on the box, but I'm a bit dicey on the pre-match entertainment we've just been treated to. I was absolutely amped when I heard Ministry of Sound was going to do some sort of mash-up of 25 years of club hits with an orchestra thrown in for good measure. But plonking them in the middle of a huge stadium in broad daylight (it's still sunny in Perth) and getting live singers to have a crack at songs which only sound good post-11pm after a few rumbos is maybe one of those ideas that shouldn't have progressed the workshopping stage.

I've asked my colleage Dom 'Big Papa D-Boss' Bossi for his take, and he may well have had a different experience altogether in the flesh. I'll let you know if and when he follows through.

Bad news if you were seeking an in-depth explanation as to why Popovic decided to start Joel Chianese instead of Andy Keogh. The Glory coach confirmed it was a "tactical decision" on Fox Sports and said based on his analysis of Sydney FC that he felt "Joel can do something in a certain aspect of the game", but did not reveal what that certain something was. We'll have to wait and see.

There's plenty riding on this for Popovic - he's taken the Western Sydney Wanderers to three grand finals, in 2013, 2014 and 2016, for a total of exactly zero wins. That is a record he will undoubtably be desperate to fix.