Sydney FC have gone down 7-0 away to the Wellington Phoenix.
Three first half goals for the Nix were enough to end the game as a contest with Jale and Bhandari adding a fourth and fifth in the second half.
Wellington Phoenix 7 (Elliott 3’, Bhandari 13’, 70’ Jale 36’, 54’, Wall 81’, Leon 90’+1’) – Sydney FC 0
Moments That Mattered:
3’ | ELLIOTT GOAL – Vlok weaves through the Sydney FC defence to shoot, Robertson gets a hand to push it onto the foot of the post but Elliott is first to react for the tap in.
6’ | HITS THE CROSS BAR – Samba Bhandari feeds Vlok who shoots from the edge of the box but the ball cannons off the woodwork again.
13’ | BHANDARI GOAL – Brooke Nunn found space on the right and took time to measure her cross, finding Samba at the back post who just had to nod in from close range.
20’ | BHANDARI HITS THE POST – A cross from the right finds the head of an unmarked Bhandari who puts it against the near post.
29’ | BHANDARI MISSES BIG CHANCE – The striker goes clean through but can only shoot straight at Robertson in the Sydney FC net.
36’ | JALE GOAL – A right wing cross into the boxes isn’t cleared and after a scramble is eventually forced home by Jale from the six-yard box.
54’ | JALE GOAL – A left wing corner to the back post is headed home by Jale.
70’ | BHANDARI GOAL – A through ball puts the striker clear and she slots if beyond Robertson from an angle.
81’ | WALL GOAL – A cross from the left by Wall isn’t cleared by the Sydney FC defence and goes all the way through into the far corner off the sliced boot of Tumeth.
90’+1’ | LEON GOAL – The winger gets to the byline and her cross takes a deflection towards the goal, it fumbled by Robertson who allows it to bounce close to the goal line but the referee awards the goal.
What They Said: Ante Juric: “Today’s result is an extremely poor one and our performance was not great.
“The goals we gave away were all preventable, and really disappointed me. Our defence lacked discipline and desperation.
“This result hurts, however we will dust ourselves off, get back onto to the training field and work hard.
“I personally apologise to the fans for this result. I will aim to make things right in our up coming games.”
Match Report: Sydney FC have gone down to a rampant Wellington Phoenix in New Zealand losing 7-0.
The Nix came out of the blocks very fast scoring the opening goal within 3 minutes as Elliott tapped in following good work from Vlok.
They hit the post moments later and were two up in 13 minutes when Samba Bhandari nodded home from close range.
They once again hit the post and Bhandari missed a one on one with Robertson before Phoenix went further ahead on 36 minutes as Jale finished off a scramble in the box from a corner to make it 3-0 at the break.
Jale continued the goalscoring within nine minutes of the restart with a header at the back post before Samba added a fifth with a neat finish under Robertson with 20 minutes to go.
With nine minutes to go a left wing in-swinging cross from Wall was touched by Tumeth on the way through and nestled into the far corner.
The final nail in the coffin came when Leon’s ball into the centre was deflected towards goal and Robertson could only fumble it over the goal-line.
Sydney FC | 30. Tiahna ROBERTSON, 2. Madison AYSON, 4. Tori TUMETH,5. Kirsty FENTON, 8. Hana LOWRY (19. Skye HALMARICK 70’), 9. Jodi ULKEKUL, 13. Riley TANNER (7. Amelia CASSAR 59’), 15. Mackenzie HAWKESBY (24. Caley TALLON-HENNIKER 46’), 21. Sarah HUNTER (c), 23. Rubi SULLIVAN (14. Abbey LEMON 59’), 32. Bianca GALIC (26. Madeline CASPERS 46’),
Unused Subs | 1. Heather HINZ.
Head Coach | Ante JURIC
Yellow Cards | None
Red Cards | None
Wellington Phoenix FC | 1. Victoria ESSON (gk), 2. CJ BOTT (c), 4. Mackenzie BARRY, 5. Ellie WALKER, 7. Grace JALE, 9. Sabitra BHANDARI, 11. Manaia ELLIOTT (21. Lara WALL 55’), 16. Marisa VAN DER MEER (28. Grace BARTLETT 77’), 20. Emma MAIN (15. Daisy BRAZENDAL 59’), 23. Brooke NUNN (27. Zoe BENSON 77’), 24. Pia VLOK (14. Lucía LEÓN 55’).
Unused Subs | 22. Aimee DANIELI (gk).
Head Coach | Bev PRIESTMAN
Yellow Cards | None
Red Cards | None
Venue | Porirua Park
Referee | Sarah Jones
