A midweek visit from legendary coach Sir Alex Ferguson has been unable to rouse Macarthur to victory over Sydney FC, who benefited from a contentious red card to claim a 3-2 win at Campbelltown Stadium.
Perhaps inspired by the ex-Manchester United manager's recent presence at training, Macarthur's biggest-ever home crowd of 7021 were present to see their side struggle to recover from two controversial refereeing decisions.
Sydney had an extra man for the entire second half of last week's draw with Adelaide United thanks to a subsequently rescinded red card and the Sky Blues again found themselves with the long end of the stick just before the break on Saturday.
In his 100th A-League match, Macarthur's Jonathan Aspropotamitis took Patrick Wood out as the pair jostled for the ball 10 metres outside the box.
There was only open space between them and Bulls goalkeeper Filip Kurto, and referee Alex King showed Aspropotamitis a yellow card.
But a VAR review upgraded it to a red, leaving the Bulls a man down with the scores locked at 1-1.
Sydney's opening goal had come after a similarly debatable call.
Matthew Millar was ruled to have fouled Robert Mak in the box after 14 minutes, and the Sydney winger lined up for a penalty despite replays showing it had been Millar who fell to the ground first.
While Kurto blocked Mak's strike from the spot, Patrick Wood made no mistake on the rebound and the Sky Blues were up 1-0.
Millar quickly had his revenge, heading Craig Noone's free kick into the back of the net to level the scores only two minutes later.
Sydney have been the most prolific attacking team to start the season so the Bulls did well to regroup and hold them out for almost 10 minutes after Aspropotamitis' red.
But not even the reliable Kurto was immune to the one-two punch of new Sydney wingers Joe Lolley and Mak, with the latter restoring Sydney's lead in first-half stoppage time.
Sydney enjoyed the better of the chances early in the second half but failed to threaten Kurto and the Bulls' resilient back three.
But when substitutes Jaiden Kucharski and Adrian Segecic connected in the final 10 minutes, the contest was over at 3-1 before a late consolation goal to Macarthur's Anthony Carter made for a nervous few moments for the visitors.
Sydney's second win from four games this season hoists them to third on the ladder and gives coach Steve Corica bragging rights over his former teammate Dwight Yorke, who suffered his first defeat as Bulls manager.
