Despite an overwhelmingly dominant first half which produced 11 shots on goal Sydney FC have gone down away to Western United losing 1-0 at AAMI Park.
Sydney FC 0 def. by Western United 1 (Lustica 67’)
Moments That Mattered:
CACERES SHOT SAVED – 15’ – Caceres turns sharply in the box to shoot but Young makes a good save with his legs.
KAMSOBA SHOT BLOCKED – 36’ – Caceres feeds Le Fondre on the left who crosses to Kamsoba in the box. The Burundi international takes a touch and smashes a ball towards goal but it’s blocked by two defenders.
REDMAYNE SAVE – 38’ – Bayew receives the ball just inside the box, gets it on his left foot and shoots which Redmayne is down to save well.
WARLAND OFF THE BAR – 56’ – A left wing cross from Western United is met by defender Ben Warland who’s touch flies in the air and off the crossbar for a corner.
LUSTICA GOAL – 67’ – Lustica receives a ball on the edge of the box from Prijovic and slots it beyond Redmayne.
What They Said: Steve Corica: “The first half was excellent and we created some good chances but it was disappointing we weren’t unable to score.
“The second half we looked very flat, we didn’t get up to the ball and we allowed them space but they didn’t have a lot of chances.
“It’s disappointing because that was a game we needed to win.
“It’s not going to get easier with the tight turnarounds as we play a game on Saturday, we just need to take our chances.
“It’s frustrating to create so many chances and you can only win games when you score goals.”
Paulo Retre: “That summed up our season at the moment after a dominant first half, but we can’t feel sorry for ourselves and we need to dust ourselves down and there are still plenty of games to be played.”
“Things can change very quickly in football and there’s plenty of football still to play so we will be back.”
Match Report
Sydney FC have gone down to a solitary goal in Melbourne against Western United.
After a game in which the Sky Blues produced 17 shots on goal they were unable to find the final touch.
A dominant first half produced good chances for Kamsoba, Bobô and Caceres, however it was Steven Lustica who produced a second half winner latching onto a ball from Prijovic to put one into the left corner.
The Sky Blues now look ahead to a huge clash at home to Melbourne City on Saturday night at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium.
Sydney FC: 1. Andrew REDMAYNE, 2. James DONACHIE, 3. Ben WARLAND, 5. Connor O’TOOLE, 8. Paulo RETRE (10. Milos NINKOVIC, 70’), 9. BOBÔ (11. Kosta BARBAROUSES 60’), 14. Adam LE FONDRE (12. Trent BUHAGIAR 70’), 17. Anthony CACERES (6. Mustafa AMINI 60’), 22. Max BURGESS (4. Alex WILKINSON 86’), 23. Rhyan GRANT ©, 27. Elvis KAMSOBA.
Unused Subs: 20. Tom HEWARD-BELLE (GK), 25. Callum TALBOT.
Yellow Cards: Burgess 10’, Warland 74’.
Red Cards: None.
Western United: 1. Jamie YOUNG, 4. Leo LACROIX, 5. Dylan PIERIAS, 8. Lachlan WALES (27. Jerry SKOKADIS 90’+3’), 10. Steven LUSTICA (34. Christian THEOHAROUS 86’), 17. Ben GARUCCIO, 19. Josh RISDON, 31. Adisu BAYEW (9. Dylan WENZEL-HALLS 77’), 44. Nikolai TOPOR-STANLEY, 88. Neil KILKENNY, 99. Aleksandar PRIJOVIC (26. Nicolas MILANOVIC 90’+3’).
Subs: 37. Ryan SCOTT (GK), 6. Tomoki IMAI, 16. Rene KRHIN.
Yellow Cards: Theoharous 86’.
Red Cards: None.
Venue: AAMI Park.
Referee: Alex King.
