A brave Sydney FC were denied a share of the spoils by a last-minute Macarthur goal after being forced to play the second-half with 10 men.
Marin Jakolis broke in the dying seconds to break Sky Blues hearts after Patrick Wood had scored an 88th minute goal to equalise Ariath Piol’s opener, in the wake of Hayden Matthews first half red-card.
Sydney FC 1 (Wood 88’) def. by Macarthur FC 2 (Piol 71’, Jakolis 90+6′)
Moments that Mattered:
5′ DISALLOWED GOAL – Patrick Klimala finds himself one-on-one with Macarthur ‘keeper Kurto after a Max Burgess through ball and slips it neatly home before the assistant referee’s flag goes up.
11′ MATTHEWS YELLOW CARD – A slide tackle on Jakolis earns Hayden Matthews a yellow card.
19′ SHOT BLOCKED – Grant blocks a shot from Jakolis just outside the six-yard box after a square ball is dished off by Germain.
40′ KLIMALA SHOOTS WIDE – Klimala carries the ball across the edge of the box before lashing a left footed shot just wide of the top right hand corner.
45′ MATTHEWS SENT OFF – Sydney FC are reduced to 10 men after Matthews is shown a second yellow for pulling back Jakolis on the break.
69′ REDMAYNE SAVES – Redmayne reacts quickly to parry a close-range shot by Germain and Popovic’s desperate block on the follow-up sees the ball roll wide for a corner.
70′ COURTNEY-PERKINS GOAL-LINE CLEARANCE – Piol dinks a goal-bound shot over Redmayne but Courtney-Perkins is able to get to the ball in time and clear it away inches before the goal line.
72′ PIOL GOAL – Macarthur take the lead after a cross floated into the box from the left by Vujica is met with a bicycle-kick by Piol past Redmayne’s outstretched arm.
88′ WOOD GOAL – Caceres floats a wide free kick to the top of a crowded six-year box and as the ball drops Patrick Wood stabs home through a forest of legs.
90+6′ CRUEL LATE WINNER – Macarthur repel another Sydney attack and Germain carries the ball to the penalty area before arrowing it to the far post, where a late-arriving Jakolis caresses it past the stranded Redmayne.
Match Report:
A brave Sydney FC left Allianz Stadium empty-handed after Macarthur snatched a 2-1 last-minute win against the 10-man hosts.
Forced to play the entire second half a man down following Hayden Matthews’ second yellow for a tug on Marin Jakolis in the 45th minute, the Sky Blues managed to find an 88th minute equaliser before Jakolis’ winner.
After a cagey opening 20 minutes in the second half, the game opened up when Macarthur’s Ariath Piol conjured an outrageous 72-minute goal from a bicycle kick, giving Redmayne no chance as it sailed into the top corner.
Far from being deflated, the Sydney players poured forward in search of an equaliser, Anthony Caceres pulling the strings from midfield and young Tiago Quintal proving the perfect ally as he tormented the Macarthur defence with his weaving surges into the box.
Their reward came in the 88th minute when Caceres floated a wide free kick into a packed penalty area and Patrick Wood reacted quickest to stab the ball into the net as it dropped to the ground.
Just when it looked as though the Sky Blues would get reward for their effort – or even snatch a late winner themselves – a quick Macarthur counter saw Germain carry the ball into the area and squeeze it past a back-pedalling defence to Jakolis, who was able to pick his spot from close range.
What They Said: Ufuk Talay
“Well the immediate feeling is that I don’t like losing games. That’s definite.
“But proud of the group . . . we had 10 men for a long period of the game.
“We tried to win the game. I think we actually had opportunities to actually win the game but they hit us in a sucker punch in probably the last kick of the game.
“But overall very proud.
“The first half I wasn’t very happy with certain things but then we had a red card and we had to shift and change things.
“I think the boys adapted quite well.
“We still went out there and pressed and played our game and played true to our beliefs.”
Sydney FC: 1. Andrew REDMAYNE (GK), 4. Jordan COURTNEY-PERKINS, 5. Hayden MATTHEWS, 7. Adrian SEGECIC (16. Joel KING 45’+2′), 8. Anas OUAHIM (25. Jaiden KUCHARSKI 65′), 9. Patryk KLIMALA (13. Patrick WOOD 65′), 15. Leo SENA (28. Nathan AMANATIDIS 65′), 17. Anthony CACERES, 22. Max BURGESS (20. Tiago QUINTAL 77′), 23. Rhyan GRANT (C), 41. Alex POPOVIC.
Unused Subs: 12. Harrison DEVENISH-MEARES (GK), 11. Douglas COSTA.
Yellow Cards: Matthews 11′, Leo Sena 51′.
Red Cards: Matthews 45′ (2 yellows).
Macarthur FC: 12. Filip KURTO (GK), 6. Tomislav USKOK, 8. Jake HOLLMAN (19. Ariath PIOL 25′ / 7. Daniel DE SILVA 83′), 13. Ivan VUJICA, 15. Dino ARSLANAGIC, 18. Walter SCOTT (24. Dean BOSNJAK), 20. Kealey ADAMSON, 22. Liam ROSE (27. Joshua DAMEVSKI 67′), 26. Luke BRATTAN, 44. Marin JAKOLIS, 98. Valere GERMAIN (C).
Unused Subs: 30. Alexander ROBINSON (GK), 5. Matthew JURMAN, 28. Harrison SAWYER.
Yellow Cards: Scott 50′, Bosnjak 84′, Uskok 86′.
Red Cards: None.
Venue: Allianz Stadium
Referee: Casey Reibelt
Attendance: 12,194
