Ten-man Sydney FC shared points in a 1-1 draw with Perth Glory, to rise above Macarthur FC and sit three points behind third placed side, Melbourne Victory.
Sydney FC 1 (Lolley 25’ (pen) drew with. Perth Glory 1 (Majekodunmi 73’)
Moments That Mattered:
25’ LOLLEY PENALTY- Jaiden Kucharski backheels the ball back into the feet of Jordan Courtney-Perkins, and Bruce Kamau trips the defender, prompting Alex King to call a penalty. Joe Lolley plants the ball in the centre of the net to send Sydney 1-0 up.
29’ BRATTAN CHANCE – Robert Mak tees the ball to Luke Brattan, who fires a shot from a long distance, and it skims the crossbar.
34’ GIRDWOOD-REICH RED CARD – Adam Taggart and Jake Girdwood-Reich find each other one-on-one on the edge of the box, and the defender takes him down, seeing Alex King show him a red card.
35’ REDMAYNE SAVE – From the free kick after Jake Girdwood-Reich’s red card, Giordano Colli fires the ball towards the top left corner, but Redmayne palms it away.
74’ MAJEKODUNMI GOAL – Riley Warland lofts the ball from a free kick, and it finds the head of Kealen Majekodunmi, who steers it into the top left corner.
75’ REDMAYNE SAVE – Ben Warland lays the balls off and finds the feet of Adam Taggart, and his shot meets the body of Redmayne.
What They Said: Ufuk Talay
“I’m disappointed because I thought we were doing well and created opportunities when we had the same amount of players.
“The red card changed the game, and we had a short turnaround from Central Coast to fly over to Perth so it’s not easy with travel.
“The boys worked hard but I’m disappointed that we conceded from a set piece even though the Glory had a few shots.
“They kept switching the ball and had a few deliveries into the box, and I thought we dealt with it well.”
Match Report:
Ten-man Sydney FC have risen to fourth place following a 1-1 draw against Perth Glory, defending for an hour with one less player after dominating the opening 30 minutes.
A goal for Joe Lolley from the spot proved enough to earn a point. Perth was wasteful with their opportunities on goal, as they only got one through Majekodunmi despite having 28 shots to seven against the ten men.
Sydney FC started in a similar fashion to their last match against Central Coast, moving quickly into Perth’s final third and sniffing at the Glory goal.
Despite controlling over 60% of the play and moving the ball in and around the Glory midfield, the Sky Blues could not break through the compact Perth defence.
After some slick passing and a Jaiden Kucharski backheel, Courtney-Perkins tapped the ball before Bruce Kamau clipped his feet, seeing Alex King point to the spot.
Joe Lolley converted Sydney’s first of the evening with a well struck shot down the centre of the net.
The Sky Blues looked to take a bigger foothold in the game when Luke Brattan’s shot skimmed the crossbar from outside the box.
But, a quick counterattack by Perth saw Girdwood-Reich tackle Adam Taggart outside the box and after a lengthy VAR review, he was given a red card.
The Glory began to penetrate the Sydney FC lines intensely as they streamed into the box but were unable to find a clinical finish.
After a flurry of momentum, the Sky Blues were able to see out the half, holding onto the ball and capitalising off the Glory’s sloppiness.
Perth started the second half urgently, earning three corners and creating 12 dangerous attacks in the opening five minutes.
Glory thought they had a penalty when Rhyan Grant tapped the feet of Jarrod Carluccio inside the box, but the referee waved the call away.
That decision sparked frantic subsequent minutes, with Alexsander Sunsjar seeing yellow and both teams unable to hold on to the ball for long periods.
With almost 90% of possession in Perth’s favour, they could still not find the equaliser despite moving around and through the Sky Blue defence.
And the Glory got their goal when Riley Warland lofted the ball and found the head of Kaelan Majekodunmi, who converted.
Perth continued their forward onslaught, and Adam Taggart looked to find his elusive winner, but Redmayne’s hands again met his shot.
As full-time beckoned, Sydney FC tried to slow down, but the Glory continued to press on.
Perth were wasteful with their remaining chances in injury time, seeing the match finish 1-1.
Sydney FC will look to extend their lead against the bottom six when they face the Newcastle Jets in Newcastle on Sunday afternoon.
Sydney FC: 1. Andrew REDMAYNE (GK), 4. Jordan COURTNEY-PERKINS, 8. Jake Girdwood-Reich, 10. Joe LOLLEY (16. Joel KING 89’), 11. Robert MAK (28. Nathan AMANDITIDIS 65’, 19. Mitch GLASSON 89’), 12. Corey HOLLMAN, 17. Anthony CACERES, 23. Rhyan GRANT, 25. Jaiden KUCHARSKI (15. Gabriel LACERDA 35’), 26. Luke BRATTAN ©, 27. Hayden MATTHEWS.
Unused Subs: 20. Adam PAVLESIC (GK),9. Fabio GOMES, 22. Max Burgess.
Yellow Cards: Caceres (71’)
Red Cards: Girdwood-Reich (31’)
Perth Glory: 1. Oliver SAIL (GK), 8. Mustafa AMINI (19. Trent OSTLER 87’), 15. Aleksander SUSNJAR (9. David WILLIAMS 58’), 16. Joshua RAWLINS (2. John KOUTROUMBIS 84’), 20. Giordano COLLI, 22. Adam TAGGART ©, 23. Daniel BENNIE, 28. Kaelan MAJEKODUNMI, 29. Darryl LACHMAN, 31. Joel ANASMO (14. Riley WARLAND 58’), 77. Bruce KAMAU (17. Jarrod CARLUCCIO 46’).
Unused Subs: 13. Cameron COOK (GK), 3. Jacob MUIR.
Yellow Cards: SUSNJAR (57’), AMINI (70’), COLLI (90+1)
Red Cards: None
Venue: HBF Park
Referee: Alex King
