Sydney FC continued their pre-season progress with a third consecutive clean sheet under Head Coach Graham Arnold in a 0-0 draw with Wellington Phoenix at WIN Stadium in Wollongong.
Sydney FC 0 drew Wellington Phoenix 0.
The Sky Blues had the better of the chances and could have won were it not for two first half saves from Phoenix goalkeeper Glen Moss.
The Kiwi’s rarely threatened the Sydney FC goal with neither Vedran Janjetovic nor Ivan Necevski forced to make a clear cut save, as the Sky Blues marshalled the Wellington attack.
With no injuries reported Sydney FC head into Tuesday night’s FFA Cup tie with Sydney United with a record of 8 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss from ten pre-season games.
What They Said
Graham Arnold: “We’ve done a lot of work on our defensive structure, that’s our third clean sheet in a row and from that side of it I was very pleased. We had three great chances in the first and we missed them and goals change games.
“There’s still a lot of work for us to do. We came up against a very good Wellington Phoenix team, they are going to be tough this year. Ernie has recruited well, they have some very good players in midfield with good mobility but defensively we held strong and I can’t really remember Vedran or Ivan Necevski having to make a save.”
Key Moments
19’ JANKO SHOT CLEARED – Corey Gameiro and Marc Janko play some neat one touch football between each other in the centre of the Wellington Phoenix half. Janko eventually feeds Gameiro whose pace takes him past the Phoenix defence to the byline where he crosses back across goal to the unmarked Janko at the far right hand post. The Austrian instinctively prods the ball towards the empty net with his left foot but mis-times it and Moss is able to scramble back and claw the ball to safety.
23’ GAMEIRO HEADER – Pedj Bojic makes a break down the right flank and finds room for a cross. The delivery is inch perfect and finds Gameiro who rockets a header towards the Phoenix goal from 12 yards but Moss reacts brilliantly to tip over the bar.
29’ BROSQUE HEADER – Seb Ryall gets to the byline on the left and clips the ball back to Brosque but his header from eight yards out finds the sidenetting.
39’ BURNS BLASTS OVER – Janjetovic tries to play the ball out from goal but miscues and plays the ball straight to Burns who skews a first time shot over the bar with the goal gaping.
Team News
Sydney FC 0 drew Wellington Phoenix FC 0
Ground: WIN Stadium
Referee: Strebre Delovski
Sydney FC Head Coach Graham Arnold made five changes to the team which started the 5-0 win over Canberra FC last week. Peter Triantis, Nick Carle, Ali Abbas, and Aaron Calver all dropped to the bench with Alex Gersbach rested. Sebastian Ryall, Matthew Jurman, Terry Antonis, Marc Janko and Milos Dimitrijevic all came into the team while Christopher Naumoff and Shane Smeltz returned as substitutes. Trialist Troy Danaskos appeared on the bench.
Sydney FC: 20. Vedran JANJETOVIC, 2. Seb RYALL, (1. Ivan NECEVSKI 45’), 4. Pedj BOJIC (26. Aaron CALVER 67’), 5. Matt JURMAN, 6. Nikola PETKOVIC, 7. Corey GAMEIRO (9. Shane SMELTZ 57’), 8. Milos DIMITRIJEVIC (18. Peter TRIANTIS 63’), 11. Bernie IBINI (19. Nick CARLE 45’), 14. Alex BROSQUE (13. Christopher NAUMOFF 45’), 17. Terry ANTONIS (22. Ali ABBAS 63’), 21. Marc JANKO.
Subs Not Used: 1. Ivan NECEVSKI, 24. Themba MUATA-MARLOW, 25. George TIMOTHEOU, 27. Troy DANASKOS.
Wellington Phoenix FC: 1. Glenn MOSS, 2. Manny MUSCAT, 4. Roly BONEVACIA (23. Matthew RIDENTON 89’), 8. Alex RODRIGUEZ (16. Louis FENTON 45’), 9. Nathan BURNS (12. Tyler BOYD 75’), 10. Michael MCGLINCHY, 11. Jeremy BROCKIE (21. Roy KRISHNA 65’), 13. Albert RIERA, 18. Ben SIGMUND, 19. Thomas DOYLE (5. Michael BOXALL 72’), 22. Andrew DURANTE.
Subs Not Used: 20. Lewis ITALIANO, 3. Reece CAIRA, 6. Joshua BRINDELL-SOUTH, 7. Kenny CUNNINGHAM, 14. Alex RUFER, 15. Jason HICKS, 17. Vince LIA.
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