A maiden A-League Men goal from Bachana Arabuli has lifted Macarthur to a 1-0 win over Perth Glory in a closely contested match at Campbelltown Stadium.
Picked out with a pinpoint cross into a yard of space amidst a sea of purple shirts by Al Hassan Toure in the 71st minute, the Georgian international headed home at the back post to secure the three points.
Sunday's win moved Macarthur from 10th to fourth on the tight ALM table.
Dwight Yorke's side can now look forward to a Christmas Eve derby with Sydney FC, while bottom-of-the-table Glory will look to bounce back the day before at home against Wellington.
"It was a very important game for us," said Arabuli told Paramount.
"I was waiting for my first goal. It's come now and I hope there are many more to come now.
"It wasn't our best game, as individuals it wasn't good, but we won the game and the three points is the most important thing."
After a cagey opening, Glory produced the game's first notable chance in the 15th minute when Keegan Jelacic drove inside and laid off a cutback that Ryan Williams skied over the bar.
Neither side produced a notable chance until the 40th minute, when Perth's Selim Khelifi found Jelacic at the top of the six-yard box only for the youngster to mistime his attempt to redirect it home.
Williams drove an effort on goal from the top of the Bulls' penalty area with a minute remaining in the half, only for Filip Kurto to deny him with an acrobatic save.
After a high turnover in the 51st minute, Bulls' captain Ulises Davila found space and slid a ball across the face of the goal only for Toure to miss his cue to be on hand for a tap-in.
Reaching the byline up the other end, Williams would send a cross in David Williams' direction in the 63rd minute, but the attacker's resulting bicycle effort flew over the bar.
But after being hardly sighted to then, Arabuli broke the deadlock with 20 minutes to go and, despite Glory opening the game up in response, neither side would trouble the scorers again.
"We had a good game, away from home," Khelifi told Paramount.
"We could have scored one or two goals in the first half, we didn't do it, and this is the difference today."
