A lone effort from Eli Babalj took two much needed points away from Sydney as they were only able to manage a 2-2 draw against cellar dwellers AIS.
A lone effort up front from Eli Babalj took two much needed points away from Sydney as they were only able to manage a 2-2 draw against cellar dwellers AIS at the Sydney Football Stadium.
Despite Sydney coming back from a one goal deficit and eventually hitting the front late in the match, the towering Babalj scored his second minutes before full time to ensure the visitors would not go away empty handed.
It was a disappointing result in the end for Sydney FC who missed a golden opportunity to break a three match losing streak with a win against their less fancied opponents.
“It was disappointing but it-s football, it happens,” said striker Kerem Bulut.
Despite dominating both possession and territory, it was the AIS who took a 1-0 lead into the break courtesy of a powerful Bablj strike from outside the box.
The strike, which came on the stroke of half time, was against the run of play as Sydney was unable to capitalise on their midfield dominance.
After the break, Sydney struck back quickly with a close range strike from Bulut in the 55th minute erasing the deficit.
Following another just inside the area from substitute Raymond Miller twenty minutes later, the hosts looked as though they might hold on.
Bulut had the chance to seal the points for the Sky Blues with his close range effort thundering off the crossbar, leaving the door ajar for the AIS.
With the points seemingly headed Sydney-s way, Babalj equalised in the 88th minute after curling one around the keeper from close range.
The chance was set up by some sloppy defence at the back with the towering striker left one out against the keeper.
“We had most of the chances and if you look at the game we had most of the possession”, reflected Bulut.
“But they had two good chances to score and took both of them”.
The youth side have a bye next week, before their next clash against the Mariners on December 23, a Wednesday afternoon curtain raiser to the A-League clash.
Match Detail
Sydney FC 2 (9. Kerem BULUT 55′, 15. Raymond MILLER 78′)
Australian Institute of Sport 2 (8. Eli BABALJ 44′, 83′)
Sydney FC: 1. Nenad VEKIC (gk), 2. Matthew JURMAN (5. Mitchell PRENTICE 66-) 3. Antony GOLEC (c), 4. Mitchell SPEER (15. Raymond MILLER 55′), 6. Rhyan GRANT, 8. Sam MUNRO, 9. Kerem BULUT, 10. Adam CASEY, 11. Iain RAMSEY (13. Joel CHIANESE 59′), 16. Chris PAYNE, 17. Luke AUSTIN.
Substitutes not used: 20. Mark PULLMAN (gk).
Yellow Cards: 9. Kerem BULUT 88-.
Red Cards: nil.
Goals: 9. Kerem BULUT 55-, 15. Raymond MILLER 78-.
AIS: 1. Lawrence THOMAS (gk), 2. Trent SAINSBURY (17. Kevin DAVISON 46′) 8. Eli BABALJ, 10, Nikola STANOJEVIC (c), 11. Christopher BUSH, 12. Jared LUM (6. Patrick DIXON 62′)13. Kamal IBRAHIM (26. Aaron PETERSON 62′), 15. Brendan HAMILL, 18. Ersin KAYA, 21. Mustafa AMINI, 22. Jake BARKER-DAISH.
Substitutes not used: 20. Aaron LENNOX (gk).
Yellow Cards: 2. Trent SAINSBURY, 12- 8. Eli BABALJ 61-
Red Cards: nil.
Goals: 8. Eli BABALJ 44-, 83-
Referee: David COSTELLO.
