Sydney FC have been handed an agonising late draw with Auckland FC as an own goal with seconds remaining cancelled out Alex Popovic’s 84th minute opener to snatch the three points away from the Sky Blues at Leichhardt Oval.
Sydney FC 1 (Popovic 84’) drew w. Auckland FC 1 (A.Grant OG 90’+4’)
Moments That Mattered:
11’ | CAMPUZANO CHANCE – Stamatelopoulos brings the ball into the box from the left and pushes it through a crowd of players to Campuzano but his shot it blocked away for a corner.
12’ | CAMPUZANO SHOT SAVED – From the corner Auckland captain Sakai heads the ball back across his own goal to the Spaniard in the six yard box but the keeper gets back across to save Campu’s shot on the line.
27’ | PENALTY APPEAL TURNED DOWN – Stamatelopoulos turns Girdwood-Reich in the box and is brought down but it’s not deemed worthy of a spot kick by Elder.
61’ | STAMATELOPOULOUS HEADER WIDE – Garuccio curls in a left wing cross and Stamatelopoulos dives to head home but steers it just wide.
70’ | STAMATELOPOULOS SHOT SAVED – Lolley plays a brilliant through ball to Stamatelopoulos who runs into the box and hits it first time to the near post, but Woud dives to push it behind.
84’ | POPOVIC GOAL – Piero picks the ball up on the far side of the field following an over hit corner, he dribbles back to the side of the box and clips a left footed ball to the edge of the six yard box for Popovic to flick a header home.
90’+4’ | GRANT OWN GOAL – Auckland attack down the left flank and the ball comes across to Pijnaker who heads goalwards. Devenish-Meares parries the header and it drops to substitute Courtney-Perkins, but his clearance rebounds off Sydney FC defender Alex Grant and into the back of the net.
Match Report: Sydney FC have drawn 1-1 with Auckland after having the full three points snatched away in the dying seconds with a late own goal.
Alex Popovic had looked to have won the game with only six minutes remaining with a header, however a mix-up in the Sky Blues back line gave the visitors a point.
Head Coach Ufuk Talay brought both new signings Arslan and Stamatelopoulos in for their first starts while Alex Popovic also returned to the eleven in place of Marcel Tisserand who is being managed through a quad issue.
Al-Hassan Toure returned to the bench after a long absence from a calf strain.
The Sky Blues made a positive start with Campuzano going close twice within the space of a minute with 11 gone.
First, he received the ball from Stamatelopoulos on the right and his goal-bound shot was deflected for a corner. The corner came across and Sakai headed the ball back across his own box to the Spaniard who could only find the keeper with his shot.
Sydney FC began to become more dominant as the Kiwi’s looked to hit on the break. Stamatelopoulos looked threatening up front while the lively Quintal was looking to make things happen in midfield.
It was the former who almost won the Sky Blues a penalty just before the half hour when his chop back beat Girdwood-Reich, but referee Daniel Elder refused to acknowledge the fact the loan signing was brought down by the former Sky Blue.
Despite the quality on show, neither side were able to break the deadlock before half time.
Sydney FC started the better to the two sides again in the second half probing inside the Auckland half.
The first real opportunity came just after the hour mark when Garuccio curled in a delightful cross from the left which Stamatelopoulos could only glance wide with his head.
The striker was denied again just under 10 minutes later when Lolley fed him into the box and his first time shot was well saved at his near post by Woud.
As the 90 minutes approached it began to look like neither side was going to be able to break the deadlock but with six minutes to Quispe picked up a loose ball from a corner on the right and floated a beautiful left footed inswinger to the head of Alex Popovic to glance home.
The Sky Blues looked to have taken the win but in the final minute of injury time a chipped ball from the left is headed goalwards by Pijnaker. When the ball is parried by Devenish-Meares, Courtney-Perkins’ clearance hits Alex Grant and rebounds into the net to leave both sides with a point.
What They Said: Ufuk Talay:- “Probably deflated, to be honest. But this is why we love the game so much.
“Over the 90 minutes I thought we played some really good football. We created some strong moments, made their keeper work with a few important saves, and we capitalised late in the game.
“To then concede in the dying minutes brings you back down to earth pretty quickly. So yes, disappointed — I think we dropped two very valuable points at home.
Rhyan Grant:- “Tonight we looked very in control and created some really good chances, particularly in the first half.
“If we take one or two of those, the game probably looks very different. It just wasn’t to be. We knocked on the door a lot, so the way it finished feels a bit unfair on the boys and the performance we put in. It’s just unfortunate.”
Sydney FC | 12. Harrison DEVENISH-MEARES (GK), 23. Rhyan GRANT (c), 5. Alex GRANT, 41. Alexandar POPOVIC, 17. Ben GARUCCIO, 24. Paul OKON-ENGSTLER, 20. Tiago QUINTAL, 10. Joe LOLLEY (35. Al-Hassan TOURE 77’), 9. Victor CAMPUZANO (6. Corey HOLLMAN 72’), 70. Ahmet ARSLAN (7. Piero QUISPE 77’), 80. Apostolos STAMATELOSPOULOUS, (4. Jordan COURTNEY-PERKINS 90’).
Unused Subs | 30. Alexander ZAVERDINOS (GK), 22. Mathias MACALLISTER, 36. Rhys YOULLEY.
Head Coach | Ufuk TALAY
Yellow Cards | Quispe 90’.
Red Cards | N/A
Auckland FC | 1. Michael WOUD (GK), 2. Hiroki SAKAI (17. Callan ELLIOT 89’), 3. Jake GIRDWOOD-REICH, 6. Louis VERSTRAETE, 8. Felipe GALLEGOS (7. Cameron HOWIESON 53’), 9. Sam COSGROVE (4. Nando PIJNAKER 63’), 11. Marlee FRANÇOIS (27. Logan ROGERSON 46’), 15. Francis DE VRIES, 21. Jesse RANDALL, 23. Dan HALL, 77. LACHLAN Brook (10. Guillermo MAY 53’).
Unused Subs | 12. James HILTON (GK), 22. Jake BRIMMER.
Head Coach | Steve CORICA
Yellow Cards | Gellegos 34’, Cosgrove 59’.
Red Cards | N/A
Venue | Leichhardt Oval
Referee | Daniel ELDER
Attendance | 6,471
