Substitute striker Patrick scored with his first touch of the ball to fire Sydney FC to its first win of the Hyundai A-League 2007/08 Season.
Substitute striker Patrick scored with his first touch of the ball to fire Sydney FC to its first win of the Hyundai A-League 2007/08 Season.
Patrick put the finishing touch to a brilliant five-man move almost immediately after Sydney FC coach Branko Culina thrust him into the action, the South American import replacing Ufuk Talay in the 68th minute of a lively match at Suncorp Stadium.
A quickly taken Sydney FC free kick found the head of Terry McFlynn, who directed the ball towards Ruben Zadkovich. The Qantas Under 23s utility, deployed in central midfield as Culina opted for more energy in the engine room, showed great control before slipping a pass to Steve Corica, whose pin-point cross was put away by Patrick.
The game began at a million miles an hour but it took until the 25th minute before either Queensland Roar goalkeeper Liam Reddy or Sydney FC’s Clint Bolton had to pull off a save worthy of the name.
Bolton was the first custodian called into action, pushing Simon Lynch’s header over the crossbar and then, three minutes later, stopping Marcinho’s long-range effort through a group of defenders.
Queensland Roar went the closest to breaking the deadlock in the first half when, four minutes from the break, Craig Moore had a header cleared off the line by Adam Casey and Reinaldo saw his follow-up shot blocked by the knees of an inspired Bolton.
Sydney FC dominated the early exchanges of the second period and carved out two chances within four minutes of each other but neither Zadkovich nor Alex Brosque hit the target to test Reddy.
Queensland Roar did not threaten until the hour mark but then Frank Farina’s team went close twice in quick succession. First, Mark Rudan took the ball off the toes of Simon Lynch after a sweeping move had opened up Sydney FC’s defence. Shortly after, Bolton made a top-class save with his left hand to somehow send Reinaldo’s header over the crossbar.
Patrick made Queensland Roar pay for its profligacy just moments after entering the match and Sydney FC could have gone two goals up in the 76th minute but Rudan, who was having a wow of a game, could not keep down his header from a Corica free kick.
Two incidents in the 83rd minute decided the match in favour of Sydney FC. Bolton made another superb save, this time to deny Sasa Ognenovski and then, from the resulting corner, McFlynn threw his body in the way of Marcinho’s powerful snapshot.
Sydney FC held on to win 1-0 and move off the bottom of the Hyundai A-League 2007/08 ahead of next week’s New South Wales derby against second-placed Newcastle Jets at Sydney Football Stadium.
Queensland Roar 0
Sydney FC 1 (Patrick 69′)
Date: Saturday, September 22, 2007
Venue: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Referee: Mark Shield
Crowd: 16,582
Queensland Roar: 1. Liam REDDY (gk), 4. Craig MOORE (captain), 5. Josh McCLOUGHAN, 9. Simon LYNCH, 10. Ante MILICIC (8. Massimo MURDOCCA 58′), 11. REINALDO (19. Sasa OGNENOVSKI 82′), 14. Ben GRIFFIN (7. Michael ZULLO 73′), 15. Matt McKAY, 16. Hyuk-Su SEO, 18. Danny TIATTO, 23. MARCINHO.
Substitutes not used: 30. Griffin McMASTER (gk).
Yellow cards: Josh McCloughlan 33′, Danny Tiatto 45+1′.
Sydney FC: 1. Clint BOLTON (gk), 2. Iain FYFE, 4. Mark RUDAN, 8. Ruben ZADKOVICH, 10. Steve CORICA, 11. Brendon SANTALAB, 14. Alex BROSQUE, 15. Terry McFLYNN, 16. Mark MILLIGAN (captain), 18. Adam CASEY (21. Adam BIDDLE 54′), 23. Ufuk TALAY (12. PATRICK 68′).
Substitutes not used: 9. David ZDRILIC, 30. Matthew NASH (gk).
Yellow cards: Ruben Zadkovich 37′, Ufuk Talay 43′, Terry McFlynn 67′, Brendon Santalab 87′.
