Sydney FC has defeated Perth Glory 4-1 at Allianz Stadium to help further cement their Isuzu-UTE Finals Series spot thanks to goals from Adam Le Fondre, Joe Lolley, Robert Mak and Rhyan Grant.
The win takes the Sky Blues three points clear of the chasing pack with a superior goal difference and only two games to play.
Sydney FC 4 (Le Fondre 9’, Lolley 51’, Mak 62’, Grant 72’) def Perth Glory 1 (Zimarino 44’)
Moments That Mattered:
LE FONDRE GOAL – 9’- Burgess feeds Grant inside the Perth left back and the Socceroo plays an inch perfect ball across the face of goal to Le Fondre to tap home.
REDMAYNE SAVE – 20’ – Burke pulls the ball back to Taggart to shoot but Redmayne gets down low to deflect the ball past the post.
ZIMARINO GOAL – 44’ – Amini feeds Zimarino on the right and the forward hits a first time shot into the far corner.
LOLLEY GOAL – 51’ – Brattan’s long pass to Lolley is flicked onto Le Fondre who finds his fellow Englishman again with a reverse cut back and Lolley smashes it home.
MAK GOAL – 62’ – King feeds in Robert Mak who beats his defender and lifts the ball into the far corner of the net.
LE FONDRE SHOT SAVED – 71’ – A ball down the left flank finds Burgess who drives into the box and cuts the ball back to Le Fondre who shoots first time but Cook tips over.
GRANT GOAL – 72’ – A short corner to Mak who lays it off to Caceres to drive into the box and square the ball to Grant who is on hand from short range to score.
WOOD CHANCE – 89’- Wood drives from his own half shrugging off a number of challenges and forces Cook into a fantastic one handed diving save to his right.
What They Said: Steve Corica: “I think that’s the most important result of the season.
“With only three games to go we needed to win and we needed to win playing good football and I think we did that, especially in the second half.
“We turned it on and scored some great goals and they worked really hard.”
Match Report: Sydney FC have moved three points clear in the race for Finals places with just two games remaining in the regular season.
The Sky Blues defeated fellow Finals chaser Perth Glory 4-1 after a scintillating performance which produced four goals and could have seen more.
Le Fondre opened the scoring early, converting a fine cross from Grant before Glory equalised on the stroke of half time through Zimarino.
Lolley restored the lead early in the second half after great link up play between himself and Le Fondre, before Mak made it three with a fabulous solo run and strike.
A cleverly worked corner saw Grant add a fourth and the Sky Blues had chances through substitutes Wood and Retre among others which could have added to the lead.
The Sky Blues travel to Brisbane Roar next Monday night knowing their destiny is very much in their own hands.
Sydney FC: 1. ANDREW REDMAYNE (GK), 3. JOEL KING, 4. ALEX WILKINSON (C), 6. JACK RODWELL, 9. ADAM LE FONDRE (12. PATRICK WOOD 76’), 10. JOE LOLLEY, 11. ROBERT MAK (19. ADRIAN SEGECIC 83’), 17. ANTHONY CACERES, 22. MAX BURGESS (25. JAIDEN KUCHARSKI 86’), 23. RHYAN GRANT (28. JAKE GIRDWOOD-REICH 86’), 26. LUKE BRATTAN (8. PAULO RETRE 76’).
Unused Subs: 20. TOM HEWARD-BELLE (GK), 2. JAMES DONACHIE, 29. AARON GURD.
Yellow Cards: King 27’, Grant 46’.
Red Cards: None.
Perth Glory: 13. CAMERON COOK (gk), 7. RYAN WILLIAMS (36. JOSEPH FORDE 83’), 8. MUSTAFA AMINI (c), 14. JACK CLISBY (31. CHRIS DONNELL 76’), 15. JORDAN ELSEY, 16. KEEGAN JELACIC (28. TRENT OSTLER 76’), 19. ZACH DUNCAN (4. LUKE BODNAR 63’), 21. ANTONEE BURKE-GILROY (3. JACOB DOWSE 63’), 22. ADAM TAGGART, 29. DARRYL LACHMAN, 43. ADAM ZIMARINO.
Unused Subs: 30. PIERCE CLARK (GK), 37. JACOB MUIR.
Yellow Cards: Zimarino 86’.
Red Cards: None
Venue: Allianz Stadium
Referee: Shaun Evans
Attendance: 12,850
