A 19th minute goal from Joel Porter handed the Gold Coast a 1-0 nil victory over Sydney FC in front of 14,491 fans at the Sydney Football Stadium on Sunday evening.
A 19th minute goal from Joel Porter handed the Gold Coast a 1-0 nil victory over Sydney FC in front of 14,491 fans at the Sydney Football Stadium on Sunday evening.
Despite fighting valiantly in the second half and having the better of the opportunities late in the match, Sydney -who were missing their leading scorer Alex Brosque for the second successive match due to injury- were unable to find the back of the net as the Gold Coast defence held firm.
In front of a strong home crowd, Sydney started off slowly in the opening stages. A number of unforced errors and pushed passes came on the back of a Gold Coast side that was looking to put pressure on their opponents early.
“We were sluggish, they kept picking the second ball up, and we kept giving the ball away,” Sydney FC Captain Steve Corica said. “We-ve got to scrap again to be at the top. We still have tough games coming up.”
Coach Vitezslav Lavicka said: “I-m disappointed but I have to say the better team won. They played better, especially in the first half. They created lots of problems for us in midfield. On the ball we had problems with our movement,”
“We have several more experienced and older players in our squad, but today speed let us down.”
On 19 minutes the Gold Coast capitalised on their early momentum through a goal to striker Joel Porter. The goal came on the back of a clever pass across the body from Tahj Minniecon which caught the Sky Blues- defenders out of position and leaving Porter in the clear.
From a tight angle, Porter found the bottom of the far post to put the Gold Coast up 1-0, bringing an end to Clint Bolton-s run of five consecutive clean sheets.
It wasn-t until the 23rd minute that Sydney had their first real chance of the match. Striker John Aloisi found space in the middle setting up a chance for Mark Bridge at the left post, whose attempt found the side netting.
Aloisi had a great opportunity to level proceedings in the 28th minute when he was put through by Corica but his effort narrowly slide past the far post.
Simon Colosimo had a good chance in the 40th minute after excellent build up work saw the ball reach him in the 16 yard box but his sho deflected off teammate Aloisi clearing the danger for Gold Coast United.Colosimo had another opportunity to level the match when his ambitious chip was cleared off the line leaving Sydney with a 1-0 deficit going into half time.
Keen to hold onto their 1-0 advantage, Gold Coast went on the defensive in the second half leaving Sydney with numerous chances to level the scores.
Sydney coach Vitezslav Lavicka looked to inject some additional pace up forward, replacing Bridge with young gun Chris Payne on the hour mark.
While Sydney had the better of the play towards the end space was hard to come, with several of Sydney-s chances coming from either set pieces or long distance attempts.
Gold Coast looked solid structurally at the back, and stifled Sydney-s run forward. Lavicka was disappointed with the loss, however gave praise to Gold Coast-s ability to limit Sydney-s chances on goal.
Sydney FC takes on the Newcastle Jets on Sunday 23 January at Energy Australia Stadium.
Match Detail
Sydney FC: 0
Gold Coast United FC: 1 (14. Joel PORTER 19′)
Sydney FC Line-up: 1. Clint BOLTON (gk), 3. Stephan KELLER, 4. Simon COLOSIMO, 6. Karol KISEL, 8. Stuart MUSIALIK, 9. John ALOISI , 10. Steve CORICA (c) (23. Rhyan GRANT 85′), 12. Shannon COLE, 15. Terry MCFLYNN (26. Hayden FOXE 81′), 19. Mark BRIDGE (16. Christopher PAYNE 61), 22. Sung-Hwan BYUN.
Substitutes Not Used: 20. Ivan NECEVSKI (gk).
Yellow Cards: 4. Simon COLOSIMO 26′, 19. Mark BRIDGE 55′.
Red Cards: Nil
Goals: Nil
Gold Coast United FC: 1. Jess VAN STRATTAN (gk), 3. Michael THWAITE, 7. Zenon CARAVELLA, 9. Shane SMELTZ, 10. Jason CULINA (c), 13. Sebastian VAN DEN BRINK, 14. Joel PORTER (2. Steve PANTELIDIS 74′), 15. Tahj MINNIECON (18. James BROWN 53′), 16. Kristian REES, 24. Anderson Alves DA SILVA (23. Steven FITZSIMMONS 85′), 36. Dino DJULBIC.
Substitutes Not Used: 20. Scott HIGGINS (gk).
Yellow Cards: 18. James Brown 70′, 23. Steven FITZSIMMONS 87′, 10. Jason CULINA 90+4′)
Red Cards: Nil
Goals: 14. Joel PORTER 19′.
Referee: Ben WILLIAMS
Crowd: 14 941 at the Sydney Football Stadium
