Sydney FC 1 (Le Fondre (Pen.) 57’) def. Brisbane Roar 0
Sydney FC has extended their lead to thirteen points and continued their record-breaking start to the season after a 1-0 win over Brisbane Roar at humid Netstrata Jubilee Stadium.
Moments That Mattered:
- Multiple Chances – 30’ – Sydney FC pepper the Brisbane goal with a myriad of shots the closest from Retre which is just cleared off the line.
- Redmayne Save – 32’ – Redmayne makes a fabulous diving save, tipping McDonald’s header onto the post before the ball is cleared away by the Sydney FC defence.
- Le Fondre Goal – 57’ – Neville handles the ball in the box and is shown his marching orders before Alfie drills one in the bottom right of the goal.
- Penalty Overturned (VAR) – 61’ – Barbarouses is taken out inside the box but VAR overturns the on field decision with the Sydney forward adjudged to have been offside.
- Brattan Chance – 67’ – Brattan lets fly from 25 yards to sting the palms of Young who also manages to push away Le Fondre’s follow up effort.
- Ninkovic Chance 72’ – Brattan threads the needle to find Ninkovic whose point blank effort is beaten away by Young.
- Holloway Chance 85’ – A rare chance for Brisbane as their young forward see’s his looping volley just sail over the top of the goal.
Whilst the Sky Blues dominated the possession of the first half, a resolute and defensive Brisbane proved a challenge to breakdown, resulting in a stalemate at the break.
Sydney FC continued to push in search of the breakthrough and were rewarded with a penalty and a second yellow card for Brisbane defender Scott Neville after he handled the ball in the box.
Le Fondre stepped up and made no mistake from the spot, belting it past a helpless Young to give Sydney FC the lead and notching his 15th of the campaign.
The reduced numbers appeared to open the contest up with both sides creating chances however, Corica’s men marched on to 13 points clear of the pack and continue their record-breaking start to the season, having now won 13 consecutive games at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium.
The Sky Blues face cross-town rivals Western Sydney in the first Sydney Derby held at Jubilee Oval next Saturday night.
What they said: Head Coach Steve Corica
“I’m pleased. It’s three points and another clean sheet and we move further forward. It wasn’t the best of games, they sat back pretty deep and made it difficult for us to break them down.
“It was very humid out there and it takes its toll on the players. We kept a lot of ball and sooner or later it’s going to tire them out.
“I think Jamie Young had another great game against us. He made a couple of great saves and it could have been two or three.
[On missing Baumjohann] “I think we did, he’s been very good. Last week was his best performance and he’s starting to really get the way we want to play now and he’s working very hard defensively. He’s got two weeks and we have to play without him which we have in the past with Ninko and Caceres.
[On the Sydney Derby] “We’re still hurting that they beat us in that first round cause I thought we dominated that game but just couldn’t score so we’re looking to put things right.
“You expect them to be up for it. It’s a derby – they should be up for it, we should be up for it. It’s going to be a great crowd and atmosphere here.”
Sydney FC: 1. Andrew REDMAYNE (GK), 4. Alex WILKINSON, 6. Ryan McGOWAN, 8. Paulo RETRE (18. Luke IVANOVIC 75’), 9. Adam Le FONDRE, 10. Milos NINKOVIC (21. Harry Van Der SAAG 88’), 11. Kosta BARBAROUSES (12. Trent BUHAGIAR 82’), 16. Joel KING, 17. Anthony CACERES, 23. Rhyan GRANT, 26. Luke BRATTAN.
Subs Not Used: 20. Thomas HEWARD-BELLE (GK), 2. Patrick FLOTTMANN.
Yellow Cards: None.
Red Cards: None.
Brisbane Roar: 21. Jamie YOUNG (GK), 2. Scott NEVILLE, 3. Corey BROWN (12. Aiden O’NEILL 78’), 5. Thomas ALDRED, 6. Macaulay GILLESPHEY, 8. Jacob PEPPER, 10. Bradden INMAN (20. Aaron HOLLOWAY 73’), 19. Jack HINGERT, 23. Dylan WENZEL HALLS (4. Daniel BOWLES 58’), 26. James O’SHEA, 77. Scott McDONALD.
Subs Not Used: 1. Maxime CROCOMBE (GK), 25. Rahmat AKBARI, 30. Mirza MURATOVIC.
Yellow Cards: 2. Scott NEVILLE 45’, 55’, 26. James O’SHEA 52’
Red Cards: 2. Scott NEVILLE 55’
Ground: Netstrata Jubilee Stadium
Referee: Chris Beath
Crowd: 10,724
