Ufuk Talay scored a last minute winner to give Sydney FC a dramatic 5-4 victory over the Central Coast and send them into the top four in an amazing game dubbed “the best A-League game ever” by many, including Sydney FC Coach John Kosmina.
Ufuk Talay scored a last minute winner to give Sydney FC a dramatic 5-4 victory over the Central Coast and send them into the top four in an amazing game dubbed “the best A-League game ever” by many, including Sydney FC Coach John Kosmina.
The game was a tremendous advertisement for the Hyundai A-League, played before a ground record crowd of 17,514 in Gosford but it was Sydney FC who took the points.
Without the services of Mark Milligan, Clint Bolton, Juninho and Ruben Zadkovich, to name a few, it was a magnificent performance from a Sydney FC team that had been written off before the match.
“That was the best A-League game I-ve ever seen,” Kosmina said. “It was an unbelievable game of football from start to finish. It had everything, nine goals, some magnificent goals and it was one of those game people will talk about for years.
“It was a great night for the fans, a ground record and both teams put on a show. We showed great character under tremendous pressure and we showed what we are made of.”
Sydney FC went 2-0 down inside the first 15 minutes before the Mariners had goalkeeper Danny Vukovic sent off and the visitors showed great character to come from behind three times courtesy of four second half goals.
An Iain Fyfe goal before half time gave the visitors hope and they then dominated the early stages of the second half with Terry McFlynn leveling the scores in the 49th minute.
The 10-man Mariners pulled a goal back thanks to a Greg Owens penalty in the 63rd minute but two goals in three minutes to super subs Adam Biddle and Brendan Santalab looked like winning it for Sydney FC.
But the game had another twist, two more twists in fact.
Adam Kwasnik scored a dramatic 86th equaliser before he went from hero to villain in the 93rd minute when he handled a goal-bound shot by Santalab and referee Matthew Breeze awarded a penalty and sent Kwasnik off.
With the parochial home crowd making plenty of noise Talay stepped up and silenced them before heading off to the massive traveling contingent of Sydney FC fans.
It was a magnificent match; one that will be remembered for a long, long time. But, for Sydney FC it means three points and a place inside the top four.
Sydney FC will now head to Adelaide for yet another crucial match on December 28.
Sydney FC 5 (Iain Fyfe 33, Terry McFlynn 49, Adam Biddle 71, Brendan Santalab 74, Ufuk Talay 93p) d Central Coast 4 (Mile Jedinak 3, John Aloisi 15, Greg Owens 63p, Adam Kwasnik 86)
Bluetongue Stadium
Referee: Matthew Breeze
Crowd: 17,514 (ground record)
Sydney FC: Ivan Necevski, Iain Fyfe, Nick Tsattalios (Adam Biddle 60), Tony Popovic ©, Robbie Middleby (Brendan Renaud 91), Steve Corica, Alex Brosque, Terry McFlynn, Ufuk Talay, Michael Bridges (Brendon Santalab 74), Nick Robertson. Sub not used: Matthew Nash (gk).
Yellow cards: Popovic 62, Robertson 78, Talay 91
Central Coast: Danny Vukovic, John Hutchinson, Dean Heffernan, Tom Pondeljak, Greg Owens, Tony Vidmar, Andrew Clark, Alex Wilkinson, Sasho Petrovski (Matthew Trott 16), Mile Jedinak, John Aloisi. Subs not used: Matthew Simon, Paul O-Grady, Adam Kwasnik.
Yellow cards: John Hutchinson 44, Wilkinson 83
Red cards: Danny Vukovic 16, Adam Kwasnik 93
