Hyundai A-League 2010 Champions Sydney FC and Melbourne Heart played out a score-less draw at a wet AAMI Park in Melbourne on Saturday night.
Hyundai A-League 2010 Champions Sydney FC and Melbourne Heart played out a score-less draw at a wet AAMI Park in Melbourne on Saturday night.
Both sides were unable to assert their dominance for large periods of the game, with offside goals and half-chances being the pick of the crop, however both will take the point gained as the crush for a top six spot intensifies.
It was a well rounded performance from Sydney FC despite not getting the match winning goal and it was the sides- fourth clean sheet out of their last six matches.
The Sky Blues now quickly turn their attention to Wednesday night-s clash with the Wellington Phoenix at the Sydney Football Stadium in what is shaping as another crucial fixture for the club.
Melbourne Heart nearly took advantage of the end to end start when a stretched Sydney defence was beaten by Alex Terra in the 9th minute. His ball across the box found a storming John Aloisi, but Sebastian Ryall blocked the ex-Sydney strikers shot in a last-ditch effort.
Heart continued to pressure the Sky Blues defence, with Adrian Zahra finding an acre of space on the right side, but his attempt flew harmlessly wide of Ivan Necevski-s goal.
In an exciting passage of play in the 23rd minute, some brilliant passing from Sydney saw Mark Bridge one on one with Clint Bolton, but his chip shot was miraculously cleared off the line from a desperate Simon Colosimo.
The ball then fell to skipper Terry McFlynn who had his shot blocked by Bolton.
The wet weather was clearly making an impact on the proceedings as both sides consistently tried to produce goals with build-ups worthy of an entry in Barcelona-s playbook, though the defences- held firm and the relatively chanceless first half came to an end.
With David Beckham in the country, Sydney-s own free-kick specialist Shannon Cole attempted to steal his thunder and produce a free-kick ‘Becks- may be proud of just after the sides returned from the break, but the powerless shot looked to be curving wide before Bolton tipped it wide.
The Heart looked to have taken the lead in the 59th minute after a long range shot from Terrawas blocked by Necevski but the rebound fell to Aloisi, who put the ball into the back of the net, but fortunately for the Sky Blues the 34-year-old was correctly adjudged to be offside.
Another goal was ruled out just four minutes later, this time for Sydney, when Bridge was called to be offside from a run onto a through-ball, where he neatly finished the one on one.
Aloisi had a premium chance to finally open the scoring when he was set up by Zahra after his blazing run and pass Musialik saved the day with a sensational diving block.
Sydney FC left-back Sun-Hwan Byun found himself on the end of two yellow cards in stoppage-time and will now miss the clash with Wellington. It was near the final play of the game as it finished a score-less draw.
Match Detail:
Melbourne Heart: 0
Sydney FC: 0
Melbourne Heart line-up: 1. Clint BOLTON, 2. Michael MARRONE, 4. Simon COLOSIMO (c), 5. Michael BEAUCHAMP, 9. Gerald SIBON (22. Nicholas KALMAR 56-), 10. Wayne SRHOJ, 11. Alex TERRA (23. Dean HEFFERNAN 78-), 15. John ALOISI, 20. Josip SKOKO (3. Brendan HAMILL 69-), 25. Adrian ZAHRA
Substitutes Not Used: 12. Peter ZOIS (gk),
Yellow Cards: 4. Simon COLOSIMO 17-, 16. Aziz BEHICH 34-, 10. Wayne SRHOJ 38-, 2. Michael MARRONE 70-, 22. Nicholas KALMAR 79-
Red Cards: Nil
Sydney FC line-up: 20.Ivan NECEVSKI (gk), 2. Sebastian RYALL, 5.Hayden FOXE, 6.Hirofumi MORIYASU (11. Kofi DANNING 82-), 7. Brendan GAN (24. Dimitri PETRATOS 63-), 8. Stuart MUSIALIK, 12.Shannon COLE, 14.Alex BROSQUE, 15.Terry MCFLYNN (c), 19.Mark BRIDGE, 22.Sung-Hwan BYUN
Substitutes Not Used: 1.Liam REDDY (gk), 17. Matt JURMAN,
Yellow Cards: 8. Stuart MUSIALIK 27-, 19. Mark BRIDGE 47-, 22. Sung-Hwan BYUN 90+1, 90+3
Red Cards: 22. Sung-Hwan BYUN 90+3
Goals: Nil
Referee: Alan MILLINERR
Crowd: 5,128 at AAMI Park.
