The North Queensland Fury downed Sydney FC 2-1 at Dairy Farmers Stadium in Townsville on Saturday night with a Dyron Daal goal in the 83rd minute proving the difference.
The North Queensland Fury downed Sydney FC 2-1 at Dairy Farmers Stadium in Townsville on Saturday night with a Dyron Daal goal in the 83rd minute proving the difference.
After a relatively quite first stanza, the game exploded to life midway through the second half with the Fury first taking the lead in the 65th minute via a Chris Grossman strike only for the Sky Blues to level the scores through a Scott Jamieson header in the 82nd minute.
However, less than 60 seconds after the restart, the Fury added their second through substitute Daal before holding on to record their first win of the 2010/11 Hyundai A-League season.
Making things worse for the Sky Blues was losing central defender Stephan Keller after 55 minutes with concussion after a heavy head clash with the Fury-s Gareth Edds.
“We are obviously disappointed in this moment,” coach Vitezslav Lavicka said. “We controlled the first half but went behind in the middle of the second half. We then scored but conceded again straight after so we are disappointed.
“Credit to Franz Straka and the Fury for their performance. They played well, particularly in the second half. We will analyse the game and look at all of the parts and be ready for the match against Brisbane. They will be tough opponents also.”
Sydney FC travel to Brisbane next weekend to take on the Roar at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night (7:30pm kick-off).
The Sky Blues controlled the majority of the first half with striker Alex Brosque looking most likely to find the back of North Queensland-s net while the speed of the Fury-s Isaka Cernak caused a few headaches.
Sydney FC had their best chance of the half in the 31st minute when Brosque fended off three Fury defenders and unleased sizzling left foot strike that just went wide.
Three minutes later the Fury then had their best chance when Chris Payne found space in the box, getting his head onto the end of a good cross. His header was well saved by Sky Blues keeper Liam Reddy but it didn-t matter as the former Sky Blues striker was ruled offside.
Referee Peter Green showed Keller a yellow card in the 36th minute after he ruled that he had taken down Payne as the pair sprinted for the ball. Both players were at full speed in pursuit of the ball and collided but Green ruled in Payne-s favour. Skipper Ufuk Talay stepped up to take the shot but pushed it wide.
With the break looming, Fury striker David Williams made a fast break but the experience of Sky Blues defender Hayden Foxe, who was sporting a white tape bandana after getting a nasty cut to his left ear earlier in the game, came to the fore and he quickly shut the movement down.
After a calm first 20 minutes of the second half the goals began to flow.
Payne found himself in possession in the right corner of his box and from there he managed to dish off to the incoming Grossman who unleashed a low trajectory shot that snuck in at the near post, handing the Fury the lead.
Jamieson bagged his first A-League goal in Sky Blue 17 minutes later, slotting in an open header from a pin point cross but sub Daal sent the local crowd into raptures with his goal seven minutes from time.
Match Details:
Sydney FC: 1 (Scott JAMIESON -82)
North Queensland Fury: 2 (Chris GROSSMAN ‘65, Dyron DAAL -83)
Sydney FC Line-up: 1. Liam REDDY (gk), 2. Sebastian RYALL ( Shannon COLE -79), 3. Stephan KELLER (13. Antony GOLEC -55), 5. Hayden FOXE, 8. Stuart MUSIALIK 10. Nicky CARLE, 14. Alex BROSQUE, 15. Terry MCFLYNN, 21. Scott JAMIESON 22. Sung-Hwan BYUN, 23. Rhyan GRANT (11. Kofi DANNING ‘71).
Substitutes Not Used: 20. Ivan NECEVSKI (gk)
Yellow Cards: Stephan KELLER ‘37, Sebastian RYALL ‘74, Hayden FOXE ‘87
Red Cards: Nil
Goals: 21. Scott JAMIESON ‘82
North Queensland Fury Line-up: 1. Justin PASFIELD (gk), 4. Erik AKOTO, 5. Mark HUGHES, 6. Ufuk TALAY (c) (17. Osama MALIK ‘45), 7. Gareth EDDS, 9. Eugene SSEPPUYA (10. Dyron DAAL ‘67), 11. David WILLIAMS (8. Adam CASEY -85), 14. Chris GROSSMAN, 15. Chris PAYNE, 16. Simon STOREY, 19. Isaka CERNAK
Substitutes Not Used: 20. Matthew HAM (gk)
Yellow Cards: Dyron DAAL ‘85, Simon STOREY ‘90+3
Red Cards: Nil
Goals: 14. Chris GROSSMAN -65, 10. Dyron DAAL ‘83
Referee: Peter Green at Dairy Farmers Stadium. Crowd: 5,177.
