Australia has warmed up for a crucial round of World Cup qualifiers by downing Ghana 1-0 in an uninspiring friendly at the Sydney Football Stadium on Friday night.
Mile Sterjovski scored the winner in the 46th minute, dispossessing defender John Mensah and drilling his shot hard and low from the edge of the box into the left corner of the Ghanaian goal.
It was a fairly flat performance from the home side, which was missing several frontline players due to injury and unavailability.
Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek wanted to see what a number of fringe players could do in the absence of the stars but would have come away largely unimpressed with a lot of what he saw.
While the Socceroos' goal was rarely under serious threat, the hosts gave away possession far too easily and lacked any great imagination in attack.
Verbeek will have plenty of concerns as he mulls over his line-up for the June 1 World Cup qualifier against Iraq in Brisbane.
Things didn't start well for Ghana when its national anthem wasn't played as the teams lined up before kick-off.
The Ghanaian players stood expectedly with hands on hearts before match officials were forced to call them to the middle for the start of the match.
It was an embarrassing gaffe by match organisers on the eve of FIFA president Sepp Blatter's arrival on Friday night for the governing body's congress in Sydney.
Football Federation Australia and the Australian government will use the opportunity to push their case to host the 2018 World Cup.
But perhaps more embarrassing was a bizarre attempt by officials to placate the Ghanaians by playing their national anthem after the half-time interval.
The two teams again stood together as the bemused crowd of 29,914 rose to its feet again.
The unprecedented move appeared to stun the Black Stars, who found themselves behind just 47 seconds later courtesy of Sterjovski's strike.
The Socceroos began the game with Joel Griffiths up front and Mile Sterjovski, Harry Kewell and James Troisi sitting in just behind him.
Jacob Burns had the first genuine shot at goal in the 14th minute, his effort from outside the box sailing harmlessly over the bar.
Ghana found the back of the net two minutes later through Manuel Agogo, but the striker was well offside.
Sterjovski tried his luck with a volley from long range in the 20th minute - hitting it straight at the goalkeeper - before he earned himself a yellow card soon after for bringing down Afful Harrison.
Ghana's Laryea Kingston finished off an unremarkable first half with a rocket over the bar from distance, leaving the teams locked 0-0 at the break.
Sterjovski's goal briefly brought the game to life but the game failed to reach any greats heights for the rest of the half as the crowd resorted to the Mexican wave to keep itself entertained.
The goal scorer later undid some of his good work when he was sent off in the 87th minute following his second bookable offence.
Ghana pushed forward late in search of an equaliser, Socceroos goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer forced into a save low to his left in the dying seconds.
But Australia held on and will now head to Brisbane looking to build on what was a hard-earned win.
Australia 1 (Sterjovski 46)
Ghana 0