Sydney FC have missed out on a fourth FFA Cup Final losing 1-0 to Central Coast Mariners after a controversial second half decision to award the visitors a match winning penalty.
Sydney FC 0 def by Central Coast Mariners 1 (Urena 81’ pen)
Moments That Mattered:
KAMSOBA SHOT BLOCKED – 25’ – A chipped ball in from Grant finds Buhagiar and he lays it off to Kamsoba whose first time shot is blocked by the legs of a defender.
REDMAYNE SAVE – 27’ – King slips and Nisbet pounces, squaring the ball to Urena who forces Redmayne into a good save with a first time shot.
REDMAYNE SAVES WELL – 35’ – Nisbet is in a three on two attacking situation for the Mariners and squares the ball to Urena who dummies leaving it for Nkololo but Redmayne is down well to save his low shot.
CACERES SHOT GOES OVER – 40’ – King’s cross is flicked on by Buhagiar to Caceres at the back post. He shifts the ball to the side and unleashes a shot which goes over.
REDMAYNE GREAT SAVE – 52’ – Urena’s shot is blocked but it falls to Moresche who turns inside and shoots but Redmayne is big and makes the save.
BUHAGIAR BIG CHANCE – 59’ – A Sydney FC breakaway falls to Kamsoba who runs at the Mariners’ defence and plays in Buhagiar but Birighitti gets a hand to his first time shot to deflect it wide.
NINKOVIC HEADER SAVED – 67’ – Caceres drives down the Sydney FC left and lifts a wonderful ball up for Ninkovic to head but he can’t quite get the power behind it and Birighitti saves.
AMAZING DOUBLE SAVE REDMAYNE – 74’ – Urena gets a late touch on a header towards goal which Redmayne changes position to parry and then somehow manages to get up and block Moresche’s point blank shot with his body.
REDMAYNE WITH ANOTHER AMAZING SAVE – 79’ – Miller gets to the byline and pulls the ball back, it takes a ricochet and falls to Moresche whose shot from six yards is blocked again by Redmayne.
URENA GOAL – 81’ – Miller takes on King who brings him down outside of the box but the referee Alex King points to the spot. Urena takes the penalty and blasts the ball straight down the middle which Redmayne almost manages to keep out.
What They Said: Steve Corica: “The referee clearly got it wrong with the penalty award and it means we miss out on an FFA Cup Final which is disappointing.
“In the A-League we have VAR but this competition is separate to that and the FA choose not to have it.
“The VAR would have given a free kick on the edge of the box and we should still be out there playing in extra-time and have a chance at the Final.
“It’s extremely disappointing because I don’t think the boys deserved to lose like that tonight but we just have to get on with it and we’ve Perth on Saturday to look forward to.
“We dominated possession and I thought both Patrick Yazbek and Andrew Redmayne were excellent.”
Match Report
Sydney FC have been knocked out of the FFA Cup by a second half refereeing mistake which wrongly awarded the Central Coast Mariners a match winning penalty.
The 1-0 defeat came after an end to end match in which both keepers made incredible saves to keep their team in the game.
Sky Blues keeper Andrew Redmayne was in fantastic form making three excellent saves before the Mariners broke the deadlock.
Referee Alex King adjudged a foul on Lewis Miller by Sydney FC full back Joel King to be inside the box when replays clearly showed it was outside.
Redmayne almost pulled off more heroics standing tall but Urena’s penalty was struck well and although the keeper got his legs to the ball it ended up in the net.
The result means Sydney FC will now likely face Filipino side Kaya Futbol Club in the AFC Champions League preliminary round, unless Wellington Phoenix win the FFA Cup.
Sydney FC: 1. Andrew REDMAYNE, 3. Ben WARLAND, 4. Alex WILKINSON, 8. Paulo RETRE (9. BOBÔ 81’), 12. Trent BUHAGIAR (33. Pat WOOD 64’), 16. Joel KING (21. Harry VAN DER SAAG 87’), 17. Anthony CACERES, 22. Max BURGESS (10. Milos NINKOVIC 64’), 23. Rhyan GRANT, 27. Elvis KAMSOBA, 32. Patrick YAZBEK.
Unused Subs: 20. Tom HEWARD-BELLE (GK), 6. Mustafa AMINI, 35. Liam MCGING.
Yellow Cards: None.
Red Cards: None.
Central Coast Mariners: 1. Mark BIRIGHITTI, 3. Lewis MILLER, 4. Josh NISBET, 8. Oliver BOZANIC, 10. Mattheus MORESCHE (36. Garang KUOL 90’), 11. Beni NKOLOLO (7. Cy GODDARD 66’), 12. Marcos URENA, 14. Kye ROWLES, 16. Maximilien BALARD (34. Harrison STEELE 66’), 18. Jacob FARRELL, 23. Daniel HALL.
Subs: 50. Lawrence CARUSO (GK), 15. Storm ROUX, 21. Ruon TONGYIK, 25. Matt HATCH.
Yellow Cards: None.
Red Cards: None.
Venue: Netstrata Jubilee Stadium.
Referee: Alex King.
