Kerim Bulut has continued his scoring ways but Sydney FC’s juniors were forced to settle for a draw, despite dominating for long periods in their top-of-the-table National Youth League clash with Adelaide United.
Kerim Bulut has continued his scoring ways but Sydney FC-s juniors were forced to settle for a draw, despite dominating for long periods in their top-of-the-table National Youth League clash with Adelaide United at Hindmarsh Stadium on Friday evening.
“We probably should have won it, we were unlucky once or twice and we spurned a couple of other chances,” lamented Coach, Steve O-Connor after the game.
In an opening period largely controlled by the Sky Blues, Sydney started the scoring off the boot of Bulut in the 32nd minute. The young striker received the ball from Kofi Danning and got enough on his shot to overcome the attempt of Adelaide keeper, Codey Larkin to smother the close-range effort.
Minutes later Adelaide thought it had clawed the goal back but Francesco Monterosso was denied by the linesman-s flag and Sydney carried a deserved lead into the break.
Shortly after the restart Danning and Bulut combined to find the net again, but this time it was their turn to be ruled out for offside.
The Sky Blue juniors seemed on track to take the win but a Monterosso equaliser in the 74th minute made for a tense final passage of play. Neither side could find the winner it wanted, however, and the Grand Final rematch ended in an exciting stalemate.
“It was a good competitive game, they-re a good team again, a lot of the players from last year,” said Coach O-Connor. “Second half we pressed more and probably should have gone 2 or 3 ahead but we didn-t take our chances and they came back at the end.”
Next up for O-Connor-s table-topping side is a round-7 NYL clash with the Brisbane Roar next Saturday afternoon at Seymour Shaw Park in Miranda.
CLICK HERE to visit the National Youth League page of the Hyundai A-League website and read a full report.
Match Detail
Adelaide United 1 (Monterosso 74-)
Sydney FC 1 (Bulut 32-)
Adelaide United: Codey LARKIN (gk), Joel ALLWRIGHT, Andrew CIARLA (Evan KOSTOPOULOS 58-), Michael MARRONE (OA) (Michael DOYLE 45-), Dane MILOVANOVIC, Perry MITRIS, Francesco MONTEROSSO, Daniel MULLEN, Matthew MULLEN (c), Inseob SHIN (Brett RAYNER 60-), Liam WOODING.
Substitutes not used: Nick MUNRO (gk).
Yellow Cards: Dane MILOVANOVIC 32-, Matthew MULLEN 61-/84′.
Red Cards: Matthew MULLEN 84-.
Goals: Francesco MONTEROSSO 74-.
Sydney FC: Nenad VEKIC (gk), Kerim BULUT, Adam CASEY (OA) (Hussein AKIL 56-), Kofi DANNING, Sam GALLAGHER (Steve TIBBETTS 58-), Antony GOLEC (c), Rhyan GRANT, Ray MILLER (Sam MUNRO 83-), Sam MUNRO (c) (Tim MCGOWAN 60-), Chris PAYNE, Mitchell SPEER.
Substitutes not used: 20. Mark PULLMAN (gk).
Yellow Cards: Sam MUNRO 18-, Adam CASEY 27-, Mitchell SPEER 35-, Sam GALLAGHER 51-, Kerim BULUT 80-.
Red Cards: Nil.
Goals: Kerim BULUT 32-.
Referee: Stephen Toth (at Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide).
