Ten-man Sydney FC were unable to take home three points against the Newcastle Jets after they suffered a 3-1 defeat, in a frustrating contest for Ufuk Talay’s men.
The Sky Blues suffered from a second send off in a week with Robert Mak given his marching orders in the 37th minute and following on from a long trip to Perth, Sydney FC couldn’t get across the line.
Sydney FC 1 (Gomes 45+1’) def by. Newcastle Jets 3 (Taylor 19’, Piscopo 28’, Stamatelopoulos 61’)
Moments That Mattered:
19’ TAYLOR GOAL: Stamatelopoulos receives the ball and lays it off to Clayton Taylor, who turns and slots it in the bottom corner.
22’ MAK DISALLOWED GOAL: Fabio Gomes intercepts Ryan Scott’s pass. He taps it to Robert Mak, who coverts, but he is called offside.
23’ REDMAYNE SAVE: Stamatelopoulos times his run and steams into the Sydney FC box, but he takes one touch too many, and Redmayne dispossesses him.
25’ RODWELL HEADER OFF THE LINE: Joe Lolley’s corner finds the head of Jack Rodwell, and he angles the ball towards the top left corner, but Clayton Taylor heads it off his line.
28’ PISCOPO GOAL: After five minutes of frantic play, Reno Piscopo slams the ball into the roof after taking a couple of touches from a Daniel Stynes ball.
37’ MAK RED CARD: Tensions boil over, and Robert Mak receives a red card after he shrugs off Phillip Cancar.
45+ 1 GOMES GOAL: Sydney FC move the ball quickly up the pitch, and it finds Fabio Gomes, who sneaks past the Newcastle defence. He lays it off to Caceres, who back heels it to Gomes and the Brazilian buries it into the bottom left corner.
61’ STAMATELOPOULOS GOAL: Taylor releases the ball to Stamatelopoulos, who plants the ball in the back of the net.
68’ MATTHEWS BLOCK: Stamatelopoulos dribbles past Redmayne and lays the ball off to Taylor, but his shot is cleared off the line by Hayden Matthews.
What They Said: Luke Brattan: “We didn’t start well, it took until the red card for us to wake up and against any one in this league it’s not good enough. We need to be better.
“If someone is pushing you and in your face, then you are going to try and push them away, a big hard centre half going down like that – it’s pretty embarrassing.
“We move on and we’ve got a huge game next week and we’ve got to keep getting wins.”
Ufuk Talay:
“Whether it was a red card or not, that’s a different story. The disappointing part is that the opposition player doesn’t even get booked. He’s the one that indicates the head-to-head first. He’s the one that pushes him and beats him into that.
“The reality is we started off slow, and we allowed them to score two goals. But even in saying that, I was still quite comfortable that we were still in the game.
“In the second half, we had many shots, but overall, we didn’t capitalise on those moments where we did break.
“If we had the extra player in the park I think we could have done well.
“We don’t want to make excuses, but it’s the first time we played three games in eight days. We travelled to Perth, where we played with ten men for long periods of time.”
Match Report: Sydney FC have gone down 3-1 against the Newcastle Jets after a fifth first half red card of the season, which sees them hold on to fourth spot and stay five points clear of the bottom six.
A moment of magic between Anthony Caceres and Fabio Gomes wasn’t enough to see the Sky Blues win, as Clayton Taylor, Reno Piscopo and Apostolos Stamatelopoulos got on the scoreboard to secure Newcastle’s win.
It was a stop-start opening ten minutes as both teams felt each other out despite Sydney FC controlling the contest.
Newcastle began to work themselves into the game before the first goal fell when Apostolos Stamatelopoulos found the ball on the edge of the box and tapped it into the feet of Clayton Taylor, who beat Jack Rodwell and converted.
Sydney FC looked to respond immediately. Three minutes later, a mistake by Ryan Scott saw Robert Mak find an equaliser. But the linesman called him offside.
The Jets then streamed down the field the following play, leaving behind the Sydney defence and creating a one-on-one with Stamatelopoulos and Redmayne, but the Sky Blue keeper dispossessed him.
The frantic period continued, with Jack Rodwell nearly finding an equaliser, but Clayton Taylor cleared the ball off the line.
The Jets then doubled their lead when Reno Piscopo smacked the ball into the roof of the net after a Daniel Stynes ball into the box.
Sydney FC’s afternoon worsened when tensions boiled over, and Robert Mak saw red after he tried to push Phillip Cancar away with his arm.
With momentum firmly in the Jets’ favour, Joe Lolley released the ball to Fabio Gomes, who ran down the field and found Anthony Caceres. Caceres then tapped it back, and Fabio planted it in the bottom left corner.
The Sky Blues had it all to do in the second half, and they looked intent to score, getting in the Jets box on numerous occasions, but were unable to find the clinical touch.
But it was Newcastle that extended the score line when Clayton Taylor threaded the ball to Stamatelopoulos, who took a couple of touches and finished.
The Jets thought they had the game sealed when Stamatelopoulos moved past Andrew Redmayne and tapped it off to Clayton Taylor. But his shot was blocked by a Hayden Matthews clearance.
Both sides brought on substitutions to bring fresh attacking energy to the tired teams, seeing the match continue to open up for both sides.
No team was able to find the back of the net, and the match finished 3-1.
Sydney FC will next face the Western Sydney Wanderers next Saturday at Allianz Stadium, where a win would propel them towards finals football.
Sydney FC: 1. Andrew REDMAYNE (GK), 4. Jordan COURTNEY-PERKINS (16. Joel KING 65’), 6. Jack RODWELL (27. Hayden MATTHEWS 46’), 9. Fabio GOMES (25. Jaiden KUCHARSKI 79’), 10. Joe LOLLEY (28. Nathan AMANATIDIS 81’), 11. Robert MAK, 12. Corey HOLLMAN (22. Max BURGESS 46’), 15. Gabriel LACERDA, 17. Anthony CACERES, 23. Rhyan GRANT, 26. Luke BRATTAN ©.
Unused Subs: 20. Adam PAVLESIC (GK), 19. Mitch GLASSON.
Yellow Cards: Lacerda (58’), Talay (69’)
Red Cards: Mak (37’)
Newcastle Jets: 1. Ryan SCOTT (GK), 8. Apostolos STAMATELOPOULOS ©, 10. Reno PISCOPO (6. Brandon O’NEILL 81’), 13. Clayton TAYLOR (25. Carl JENKINSON 81’), 14. Dane INGHAM, 17. Kostandinos GROZOS, 18. Daniel STYNES (37. Lachlan BAYLISS 63’), 19. Callum TIMMINS (26. Archie GOODWIN 87’), 22. Phillip CANCAR, 23. Daniel WILMERING (3. Jason HOFFMAN 63’), 33. Mark NATTA.
Unused Subs: 20. Michael WEIER (GK), 7. Trent BUGHAGIAR.
Yellow Cards: Stynes (7’), Timmins (50’)
Red Cards: None
Venue: McDonald Jones Stadium
Referee: Jack Morgan
