Striker Bruno Cazarine bagged his fifth goal of the Hyundai A-League season as Sydney FC edged out the Newcastle Jets 1-0 at the Sydney Football Stadium on Sunday evening.
Striker Bruno Cazarine bagged his fifth goal of the Hyundai A-League season as Sydney FC edged out the Newcastle Jets 1-0 at the Sydney Football Stadium on Sunday evening.
It was not an F3 Derby to remember, but the Blues worked hard and held together defensively, capitalising on a touch of fortune to bag the only goal of the game in controversial circumstances 15 minutes from time.
Japanese midfielder Hirofumi Moriyasu had fought well to stab in a cross from the byline, but the ball appeared to cross into touch. The referee’s assistant raised his flag to signal that Jets defender Nikolai Topor-Stanley was fouling Moriyasu just moments earlier but Moriyasu stayed strong and got the cross into Bruno Cazarine who netted a simple tap-in and match referee Chris Beath awarded the goal.
Sydney FC-s next game is against the Gold Coast at Skilled Park on Friday night (7:30pm kick-off).
“Yes it is a controversial goal,” said Sydney FC coach Viteslav Lavicka. “To be honest I thought that if the linesman’s flag is going up it was for [shirt tugging on Hiro] and I expected a penalty kick, but everyone makes mistakes. We have had bad luck this season several times so tonight we had a bit of luck for us.
“We are doing small steps forward now. Everyone knows we have plenty of room to improve this season, but I appreciate the players because they worked very hard on the pitch, we played a clean sheet in defence which is a very important step forward, and we reached our first home win this season.”
Mother nature finally turned off the rain and the match kicked off in perfect conditions in front of 8,512 spectators, with plenty of sunshine and a light cool breeze blowing across the SFS.
But the excellent conditions weren-t conducive enough as both sides fought a scrappy opening half with few chances at either end of the pitch.
On the flank Alex Brosque linked up well with Scott Jamieson in midfield to fire several crosses into the danger zone, while Moriyasu and Shannon Cole combined well together on the left, firing in numerous balls to Cazarine who failed to get any purchase on several half-chances presented to him. Brosque closed the opening half with the best chance of the game, running onto a neat through ball from Cazarine before blasting his shot over Jets keeper Ben Kennedy. At the other end, Sydney’s Ivan Necevski was troubled on only one occasion in the first half, easily collecting an over hit free kick from Marko Jesic.
The second half was much more entertaining for spectators at either end of the F3, with Newcastle coming out strongest thanks to Ali Abbas who should have scored on the 60th minute when he headed over the bar from just a few yards out.
The Jets were finally finding their own rhythm and peppered Sydney’s box with a series of crosses that Hayden Foxe, Stuart Musialik and Stephan Keller defended well to expel from the danger zone.
Brosque had several chances courtesy of some good movement and crossing from Cole, but it was Moriyasu’s hard work that eventually broke the deadlock with the controversial goal 15 minutes from time, earning the praise of his captain Terry McFlynn.
“I thought it was a great endeavour from Hiro to close down Topor-Stanley the way he did. He’s that type of boy. He never gives up a lost cause, he chased it right down to just before the line, crossed it in and Bruno was there to tap it in,” McFlynn said.
“Two teams down the bottom of the league, fighting for their lives, it was always going to be an edgy affair. I think it was a decent battle; no quarter was asked or given across the pitch. Sometimes it takes a goal like that to win.”
Apart from the valuable three points that lifts Sydney off the bottom of the table, Lavicka was happy with the performance of debutant Dimitri Petratos who replaced Rhyan Grant in the 71st minute.
“We know Dimitri has good potential. Because players like Nicky Carle (foot), Mark Bridge (hamstring) are unavailable we gave him a chance and he did well,” Lavicka said, adding that Bridge is expected to return to full fitness for next week.
Match Details:
Sydney FC: 1 (CAZARINE 76′)
Newcastle Jets FC: 0
Sydney FC Line-up: 20. Ivan NECEVSKI (gk), 3. Stephan KELLER, 5. Hayden FOXE, 6. Hirofumi MORIYASU (2. Sebastian RYALL 83′), 8. Stuart MUSIALIK, 9. Bruno CAZARINE, 12. Shannon COLE, 14. Alex BROSQUE, 15. Terry McFLYNN (c) (7. Brendan GAN 61′), 21. Scott JAMIESON, 23. Rhyan GRANT (24. Dimitri PETRATOS 72′).
Substitutes Not Used: 1. Liam REDDY (gk).
Yellow Cards: 15. Terry McFLYNN 59′.
Red Cards: Nil.
Goals: 9. Bruno CAZARINE 76′.
Newcastle Jets FC Line-up: 1. Ben KENNEDY (gk), 2. Taylor REGAN, 3. Adam D’APUZZO, 4. Nikolai TOPOR-STANLEY (c), 6. Ben KANTAROVSKI, 10. Ruben ZADKOVICH, 11. Tarek ELRICH, 14. Labinot HALITI (5. Ljubo MILICEVIC 86′), 18. Marko JESIC (7. Kasey WEHRMAN 86′), 19. Ali ABBAS, 22. Kaz PATAFTA (15. Sean ROONEY 71′).
Substitutes Not Used: 40. Matthew NASH (gk).
Yellow Cards: 2. Taylor REGAN 4′, 7. Kasey WEHRMAN 87′.
Red Cards: Nil.
Goals: Nil.
Referee: Chris BEATH
Crowd: 8 512 at the Sydney Football Stadium.
