Goals from Lolley, Klimala, Segecic and Caceres give Sydney FC an emphatic win over the league’s best team on the road.
After six straight wins away from Coopers Stadium, Adelaide United has no answer to a Sky Blues outfit that racks up three goals or more for the seventh consecutive home game.
Moments That Mattered
12′ | LUCKY ESCAPE – A turnover playing out from the back gifts Adelaide a straightforward chance, but Goodwin’s square ball is too hot for Clough to reach for the tap-in as Sydney FC breathes a sigh of relief.
17′ | DEVENISH-MEARES SAVE – Adelaide get in behind the Sky Blues defence and the ball is cut back to Mauk, whose close range effort clips off Grant into Devenish-Meares’ chest.
23′ I CACERES SHOT SAVED – Lolley’s shot inside the box spills to Caceres, who takes one touch before lashing the ball goalward, Adelaide ‘keeper Cox having to react quickly to tip it over the bar.
25′ | OUAHIM NEAR MISS – De Jesus carries the ball upfield before cleverly finding Ouahim inside, his dipping shot from 25 metres sailing just wide.
27′ | OUAHIM DENIED AGAIN – Ouahim looks to do it all on his own this time, weaving past three defenders in the box before seeing his goal-bound effort tipped wide by the flying Cox.
32′ I AND AGAIN! – Klimala robs Cox as he tries to carry the ball out, feeding Ouahim to stroke the ball home from an angle, but Kikianis’s outstretched leg on the line saves the day for the visitors.
36′ I LOLLEY GOAL – A beautifully-worked goal for the Sky Blues as Caceres receives a return pass overlapping Lolley, squares the ball to Klimala, who rolls it back for Lolley to guide the ball past Cox from 10 metres.
38′ I DEVENISH-MEARES DOUBLE-SAVE – After having his pass out intercepted, Devenish-Meares has to go full length to save Hull’s shot from distance, before doing well to parry Goodwin’s follow-up shot.
45′ I KLIMALA GOAL – The perfect start to the second half as Hollman provides a slide-rule pass to Lolley, his drilled cross nudged in ahead of the despairing Cox by Klimala.
49′ I REDS HIT BACK – The Sydney FC defence fails to close down a surging run from Peirias and the Reds defender drives the ball into the net at the near post.
75′ I SEGECIC GOAL – Sky Blues substitute Segecic continues his goal-scoring form when he opens his body to steer home Sena’s volley from close-range.
83′ I CACERES GOAL – Midfield maestro Caceres caps off a strong performance when he combines with substitutes Costa and Segecic to slice through the Adelaide defence and curl the ball into the far corner from the top of the box.
Match Report
Sydney FC moved back into the top four with a pulsating 4-1 win over second-placed Adelaide in a game that saw an assured debut for a young central defender and the timely return of Douglas Costa ahead of next week’s derby.
With the Reds having won six consecutive games away from their home base, the Sky Blues were expected to face a stern test made sterner by the debut of a new central defensive pairing of Rhyan Grant and 20-year-old academy graduate Kyle Shaw.
There were no nerves on display from the robust Shaw, however, as his teammates took the game to Adelaide from the first whistle.
After the sides felt each other in the first 15, the game opened up, the home team thankful to survive two early chances when Adelaide fluffed an open goal and Harrison Devenish-Meares stood tall to save a close range effort.
From that point on it was all Sydney in the first half, the Reds twice denying Anas Ouahim before Joe Lolley got the deserved reward for all the pressure by rounding off a crisp move after being set up by a smart roll-back by Patryk Klimala.
The second half had barely begun when Sydney doubled their lead, Lolley repaying the favour to Klimala when he slid a cross in for a close-range tap-in after being released by Corey Hollman.
Adelaide managed to claw a goal back in the 49th minute when defender Pierias squeezed in a shot at the near post, but Sydney FC refused to go into their shell.
Their attacking mindset paid off in the 75th minute with a third goal from substitute Adrian Segecic, when he instinctively diverted a volley from Leo Sena away from the Adelaide custodian from close range.
Anthony Caceres provided the icing on the cake when he scored another goal from the match’s best sequence nine minutes later, the midfielder combining with Costa almost as soon as the Brazilian came off the bench to finish off from the edge of area from Segecic’s final ball.
What They Said: Ufuk Talay:
“I think we started the game well, gave them a couple of chances in transition, I think Harrison made some very important saves at those moments.
“And then I think we were very good, created some good moments, scored a goal, scored a very important goal in the second half straight from the kick-off, which gave us that buffer, conceded a goal where Harrison was probably disappointed with, but overall I think he had a very good performance, especially the saves that he made and also the game that he played with his feet.
“Second half I think we were very good.
“We created the moments and I think we scored some very good goals.
“Joe gets his assist, got a goal along with Patryk. The combination you’ve got with those two at the moment, it’s really, really something, isn’t it?
“”It’s a long time since (Douglas’s) last game.We just wanted to get him out there. I told him not to sprint, even though he did at that last moment. Hopefully we can give him some more minutes next weekend and some more leading into the (Asian Champions League) game.
“(New recruit Alex Grant) will definitely bring a lot of experience in the backline . . . and give us that depth.
“(Kyle Shaw) looked like he had played 100 games. He was very comfortable, calm on the ball, won his duels at times. So we should be proud as a club at the players that are coming through.”
Sydney FC: 12. Harrison DEVENISH-MEARES (GK), 4. Jordan COURTNEY-PERKINS, 6. Corey HOLLMAN, 8. Anas OUAHIM (25. Jaiden KUCHARSKI 77′), 9. Patryk KLIMALA (11. Douglas COSTA 83′), 10. Joe LOLLEY, 15. Leo SENA, 17. Anthony CACERES, 21. Zac DE JESUS (7. Adrian SEGECIC 68′), 23. Rhyan GRANT (C), 42. Kyle SHAW.
Unused Subs: 1. Andrew REDMAYNE (GK), 20. Tiago QUINTAL, 24. Wataru KAMIJO, 27. Will KENNEDY.
Yellow Cards: De JESUS 18′, R GRANT 56′, COURTNEY-PERKINS 61′.
Red Cards: None.
Adelaide United: 40. Ethan COX (GK), 3. Bart VRIENDS, 6. Stefan MAUK (19. Yaya DUKULY 71′), 10. Zach CLOUGH (42.Austin AYOUBI 85′), 12. Jonny YULL (44. Ryan WHITE 85′), 14. Jay BARNETT (8. ISAÍAS, 59′), 20. Dylan PIERIAS, 26. Archie GOODWIN (9. Luka JOVANOVIĆ 59′), 51. Panagiotis KIKIANIS, 55. Ethan ALAGICH, 62. Fabian TALLADIRA.
Unused Subs: 27. Joshua CAVALLO, 60. Oscar PAGE (GK).
Yellow Cards: BARNETT 57′.
Red Cards: None.
Venue: Allianz Stadium
Referee: Shaun Evans
Attendance: 13,096
