Sydney FC 2 (Le Fondre 65’, Ivanovic 67’) def. Wollongong Wolves 0
Hyundai A-League Champions Sydney FC have secured a 2-0 win over NPL NSW Men’s 1 Premiers Wollongong Wolves thanks to a spectacular effort from Adam Le Fondre and a striker’s finish from Luke Ivanovic.
Moments That Mattered:
- KOSTA CHANCE – 16’ – A Sydney FC cross isn’t cleared and when Baumjohann takes a right footed shot, Barbarouses tries to flick it home with a backheel, however the keeper is down low to save.
- CACERES HITS THE POST – 30’ – Grant whips in a cross which Caceres meets with a flicked header. The ball hits the inside of the post, bounces across the goalline and the keeper smothers it.
- LE FONDRE GOAL DISALLOWED – 43’ – A dinked ball from Caceres in behind the Wolves back four finds Le Fondre who controls well before slotting it home. However, tthe linesman’s flag is up.
- LE FONDRE OFF THE BAR – 53’ – A lofted free kick finds Le Fondre in the Wolves’ box. His deflected shot lifts up over the keeper and onto the bar before a scramble sees the home side clear.
- ZULLO FIRES JUST WIDE – 60’ – A ball from the left finds its way to Zullo. It sits up nicely for the full back to smash a left foot shot just wide of the upright.
- LE FONDRE GOAL – 65’ – Caceres finds Le Fondre with a searching ball and the English striker chests it down, takes a touch and curls a spectacular right footed shot in off the bar from 25 yards.
- IVANOVIC GOAL – 67’ – Wolves fail to clear another Sydney FC attack and the ball falls to Brattan who nudges it inside to Le Fondre. Alfie slips it to Ivanovic to calmly side foot home with a neat finish.
- LE FONDRE GOAL DISALLOWED – 78’ – Sawyer crosses the ball to Le Fondre in the box and the striker powers home a shot into the corner however he is given offside in doing so.
- LE FONDRE SHOT SAVED – 82’- Le Fondre is played into the channel by Teague to create a shot at goal but Pasfield tips the ball wide.
Sydney FC have eased to a 2-0 win over New South Wales Premiers Wollongong Wolves at WIN Stadium tonight.
The Sky Blues controlled most of the game with English striker Adam Le Fondre scoring a spectacular goal from long range, as well as having two strikes disallowed.
Young striker Luke Ivanovic struck a fifth goal of his pre-season campaign with a tidy finish, while Sydney FC also hit the woodwork twice through Caceres and Le Fondre.
While Wollongong had good spells they rarely threatened Redmayne’s goal but were well disciplined and provided a tough test for the Sky Blues as they continue their pre-season.
Sydney FC face Manly United at Leichhardt Oval next Thursday night (7.30pm kick off) with all proceeds from gate receipts going to the Sydney FC Foundation.
What they said:
Head Coach Steve Corica: “We need important games leading into the Hyundai A-League season and it was a great game here tonight, and a great atmosphere with the crowd. It’s a great pitch to come here and play on and they’ve had a great season.
“Goals always change games and it was a quality finish [from Le Fondre]. I’m very proud of the boys, they played very well second half and it was a much improved performance from last week.
“We’re happy that we’ve come down here and had a very good hitout. We’ve still got six weeks to go, a lot of the players needed minutes so it was very important for them.”
Adam Le Fondre: “Caceres found me out on the left, I just took a touch and hit it aiming for that side of the goal. Lucky for me it went in off the post and it’s probably one of the better goals I’ll score.
“We came in at half time disappointed, we couldn’t create as many chances as we’d like because they played really well and stifled us but the goal opened the game a little bit more.
“The culture here is all about winning games.”
Sydney FC: 1. Andrew REDMAYNE (GK), 4. Alex WILKINSON, 5. Alexander BAUMJOHANN (13. Brandon O’NEILL 45’), 6. Ryan McGOWAN (2. Patrick FLOTTMANN 74’), 7. Michael ZULLO (16. Joel KING 74’), 8. Paulo RETRE (25. Ryan TEAGUE 80’), 9. Adam Le FONDRE (27. Jordan SWIBEL 85’), 11. Kosta BARBAROUSES (18. Luke IVANOVIC 60’), 17. Anthony CACERES (3. Harry VAN DER SAAG 85’), 23. Rhyan GRANT, 26. Luke BRATTAN (19. Harrison SAWYER 70’).
Subs Not Used: 20. Thomas HEWARD-BELLE (GK), 12. Patrick SCIBILIO, 28. Ben VAN MEURS
Yellow Cards: None.
Red Cards: None.
Wollongong Wolves: 1. Justin PASFIELD (GK) (C), 2. Taylor McDONALD , 3. Darcy MADDEN (6. Ben TOSI 70’), 4. Nikola DJORDEVIC (23. Jordon NIKOLOVSKI 79’), 7. Chris PRICE (19. Brenden LOW 85’), 9. Thomas JAMES (20. Brandon STOJCEVSKI 79’), 11. Takera OKADA, 14. Harry CALLAHAN (8. Bul JUACH 65’), 15. Nick LITTLER, 16. Guy KNIGHT (13. Stefan DIMOSKI 93’), 17. James STOJCEVSKI.
Subs not used: 10. Brendan GRIFFIN, 12. Luke KAIRIES.
Yellow Cards: None.
Red Cards: None.
Ground: WIN Stadium
Attendance: 3,800
Referee: Tim Danaskos
