As the Isuzu UTE A-League made it’s triumphant return over the weekend, there was a Sky Blue flavour across all of the matches.
In the Sydney Derby there was a brilliant atmosphere led by the new imports Douglas Costa and Juan Mata however a few Sydney FC Academy graduates made an impression on the match.
Hayden Matthews provided the game winning assist and played 90 minutes while Corey Hollman came on in the second half along with Joel King.
That wasn’t the only match where Academy graduates featured on the pitch.
In Friday night’s season opener, Ryan Teague played holding midfielder for Melbourne Victory against the Mariners in Gosford.
In Auckland’s first ever match, Harry van der Saag played for Brisbane Roar and while unfortunate to score the opening goal of the game into his own net, still performed well.
On Sunday afternoon, Tom Heward-Belle was on the bench for Western United’s clash with Wellington Phoenix in New Zealand before Jake Hollman and Jed Drew starred for Macarthur in their 6-1 victory over Perth Glory.
However, the biggest blueprint on the weekend came in the Melbourne City v Newcastle Jets match when five graduates featured across the 90 minutes.
Marco Tilio, Callum Talbot, Zane Schreiber, Ben Gibson and Clayton Taylor all previously called the Sky Blues home and played for the Jets and City on Saturday.
These 13 players are part of a list of 61 who have graduated from the Academy since it was founded. In the last 15 months alone, 26 players have received professional contracts across Sydney FC, the Isuzu UTE A-League and international clubs.
