Former Socceroo Alex Brosque started his Sydney FC career with a majestic performance, capped by scoring the winning goal, in Sydney FC’s 2-1 victory over Queensland Roar at Carrara Stadium on the Gold Coast tonight.
Former Socceroo Alex Brosque started his Sydney FC career with a majestic performance, capped by scoring the winning goal, in Sydney FC-s 2-1 victory over Queensland Roar at Carrara Stadium on the Gold Coast tonight.
Brosque joined Sydney FC from the Roar in the off season and he put his hand up for a Socceroo recall with a strong performance, setting up the opening goal and scoring the second.
The victory was a just reward for Sydney FC, which dominated with a superb passing game following the dismissal of Queensland-s new recruit Saso Ognenovski just before half time for an elbow to the face of Sasho Petrovski.
The match was played in wet conditions and both sides struggled with the slippery pitch in the early stages but it was Sydney FC who took the lead with the first chance of the game in the 16th minute.
Brosque, playing in a midfield role, was the creator, showing why Sydney FC lured him back to his home town. The 22-year-old picked up the ball at halfway and beat three defenders before crossing to an unmarked Petrovski who made no mistake from close range.
Petrovski was due to start the game from the bench but David Zdrilic suffered a corked leg in the warm up and pulled out as a precautionary measure.
Sydney FC allowed a soft equalizer in the 30th minute when Socceroo defender Mark Milligan gave away possession in his own half for Timothy Smits to slot the ball past Clint Bolton.
Ognenovski, who was physical throughout the first half, marked his debut in auspicious circumstances when he was shown a straight red card for a vicious elbow on Petrovski in the 36th minute. He had earlier collected Sydney FC defender Mark Rudan with a borderline tackle.
The teams went to half time locked at 1-1 and both sides returned from the sheds without making any changes.
Sydney FC was quick to stamp its authority in the second half with some slick passing, especially in midfield, stretching the Roar and Petrovski could have sent the visitors back into the lead in the 55th minute but his header was well saved by Liam Reddy.
Sydney FC made two quick changes with Robbie Middleby (57th) and Justin Pasfield (61st) coming into the game for Petrovski and Bolton respectively.
The visitors came close again in the 68th minute when a cross from David Carney was met by a strong Alvin Ceccoli header, which crashed into the crossbar.
As the game went on, Sydney FC-s passing game started to regain the crispness that saw it win the inaugural Hyundai A-League title last year with Ufuk Talay, Steve Corica, Carney and Brosque pulling the strings.
Butcher made his third substitution in the 77th minute when he injected Nikolai Topor-Stanley into the match for Ceccoli, keeping true to his word in giving all players some game time during the Pre Season Cup.
After a string of second half chances it was Brosque who scored the winner against his former team mates with a sublime header in the 87th minute.
A Talay free kick was only half punched clear by Reddy and Brosque looped a header from the edge of the penalty area over the Roar custodian and Hyuk Su Seo on the goal line.
Topor-Stanley then had a golden chance to make his debut with a goal but Reddy made a great one-on-one save.
Sydney FC now switches its attention to a “home” game against the Newcastle United Jets at Canberra Stadium next Saturday. Kick off is at 2pm.
In the other Pre Season Cup match tonight, the Central Coast Mariners defeated Perth Glory 2-1 at Central Coast Stadium.
Sydney FC 2 (Sasho Petrovski 16, Alex Brosque 87) d Queensland Roar 1 (Timothy Smits 30)
Carrara Stadium
Referee: Peter Green
Crowd: 7130
Sydney FC
1. Clint Bolton
2. Iain Fyfe
3. Alvin Ceccoli
4. Mark Rudan
6. Ufuk Talay
10. Steve Corica
11. Sasho Petrovski
12. David Carney
14. Alex Brosque
15. Terry McFlynn
16. Mark Milligan
Subs:
7. Robbie Middleby on for 11. Sasho Petrovski (57th minute)
20. Justin Pasfield (gk) on for 1. Clint Bolton (61st minute)
21. Nikolai Topor-Stanley on for 3. Alvin Ceccoli (77th minute)
13. Jeremy Brockie – not used
Queensland Roar
20 Liam Reddy
2 Andrew Packer
3 Remo Buess
5 Josh McCloughan
6 Stuart MacLaren
8 Massimo Murdocca
10 Ante Milicic
15 Matt Mckay
16 Hyuk Su Seo
19 Saso Ognenovski
22 Timothy Smits
Subs
4. Chad Gibson on for 10 Ante Milicic (70th minute)
14. Ben Griffen on for 22 Timothy Smits (70th minute)
1. Tom Willis (gk) – not used
