Sydney FC thrash hapless Melbourne Victory 5-0 Melbourne Victory 0 Sydney FC 5 Maestro: Alessandro Del Piero. Sydney FC are back in finals contention after running up the biggest away win in their history against Melbourne Victory on Sunday. Frank Farina's men, out of form and struggling for points and credibility, still managed to look a class above the navy blues as they handed out a 5-0 Australia Day hiding at Etihad Stadium. This was Victory's record home defeat, and had Sydney been more ruthless, it could have been worse. Victory's James Troisi. Their season, already on a downward slope, could spiral out of control if rookie coach Kevin Muscat cannot turn things around in a hurry. Victory have suffered back-to-back 5-0 defeats. Only struggling Newcastle and Melbourne Heart have a worse goal difference. Victory got a rude surprise earlier in the week when struggling rivals Heart hogged the headlines following the takeover by Manchester City, who promised investment to make them a serious challenger for Victory's status as the city's biggest club. But being beaten out of sight by a hitherto hapless Sydney was an even worse shock. The loss came in front of their own fans in a game that was expected to be a showpiece occasion for the reintroduction of embryonic Socceroos star Tom Rogic to the domestic game. It was a showpiece all right, but it had nothing to do with Rogic, who sat on the bench for the first half and must surely have wondered why he had signed on loan for Victory to enhance his World Cup prospects. It might have been better to stay at Celtic and take his chances on the bench if this is what he is in for. These are worrying times for Muscat and the Victory hierarchy. The club is still in the finals mix, more a result of its earlier decent form than much it has done in recent weeks, and the inexperienced head coach is going to have to exert his personality on his underachieving squad quickly or the season could fall off the rails. Still, there are two sides to every story, and for Sydney this was a game that could be a season changer. The Sky Blues had not won in their last five matches and had not scored in their previous two. Sydney sent out a clear warning as soon as the second minute when Alessandro Del Piero capped off an inventive passing move by chipping a shot just over the bar. A couple of minutes later, they made the breakthrough they wanted and it was simplicity itself as Terry McFlynn's long ball looped into space for Ranko Despotovic, who held off Nick Ansell's challenge before scoring with a quality finish across Nathan Coe's body. The second came shortly after, and again it was a long ball over the top, this time by Del Piero, which broke open the Victory rearguard. Adrian Leijer's clumsy challenge on Despotovic led to a penalty. It looked soft, but it happens to Leijer too often these days, and he picked up a yellow card for his troubles. Del Piero put the spot kick away, and it was effectively game over. Victory were having a bad enough day already, but they knew it would turn out to be a nightmare when their former defender Seb Ryall scored against them. And what a goal it was too. Ryall picked up the ball in the Victory half and charged forward in a run that took him past two challenges before toe-poking the ball past Coe. Leijer's awful afternoon finished early when he was forced to leave the field with concussion after being struck in the head by a fiercely driven shot, forcing Muscat to try and patch up his leaky back four with a reshuffle following the introduction of Jason Geria. Sydney did not let up and added a fourth shortly after the restart, courtesy of Coe's blunder and Del Piero's sharp finish. Victory barely offered a threat in the second half and Nick Carle, a substitute, rubbed salt into the wound when he capitalised on another defensive error to make it five just minutes before the end. In season one of the A-League, Sydney FC lost 5-0 to Victory at Olympic Park yet went on to win the title. It's hard to see Victory turning things around to that extent having been on the end of a similar scoreline on Sunday. SYDNEY FC 5 (Ranko Despotovic 11m, Alessandro Del Piero 20m pen, 54m, Sebastian Ryall 25m, Nick Carle 87m) bt MELBOURNE VICTORY 0 at Etihad Stadium. Crowd: 24,354. Referee: Ben Williams.