A succession of missed chances have cost the Sky Blues after a late 40-yard strike from Italian Alessandro Diamanti secured the points for Western United.
Sydney FC 0 def by Western United 1 (Diamanti 86’)
Moments That Mattered:
LE FONDRE CHANCE – 13’ – Grant’s header forward puts Le Fondre into the channel but his right foot shot is dragged past the far post.
LOLLEY CHANCE SAVED – 15’ – Joe Lolley is quick to pick up the scraps on the edge of the area and find space on his left for a shot, but the connection isn’t strong enough and Young can save.
MAK SHOT SAVED – 32’ – Mak dispossesses Doumbia and beats La Croix but Young is out quickly to save his shot inside the box.
CACERES SHOOTS WIDE – 41’ – Lolley heads back to Le Fondre who lays off to Caceres on a driving run into the box but the midfielder blasts over from close range.
CACERES SHOT SAVED – 47’ – Le Fondre nudges the ball into Caceres’ path and the goal opens up but the shot is saved low by Young.
REDMAYNE SAVE – 49’ – A ball drops to Pierias on the right of the box and his left foot shot is pushed clear by Redmayne.
PIERIAS GOAL DISALLOWED – 49’ – A shot from the edge of the box is parried into the path of Pierias who is offside when he slots home.
MULTIPLE SHOTS SAVED – 52’ – Mak dances past Topor-Stanley and shoots but his deflected shot is parried by Jamie Young, before Burgess has a shot blocked then Lolley.
MAK CHANCE SAVED – 63’ – Mak gets clear on the left flank and bears down on goal at a tight angle but Young gets a hand to his cross to Le Fondre for a tap in.
REDMAYNE SAVE – 75’ – Pierias has the goal gaping but Andrew Redmayne throws up a hand to deny the Western winger.
DIAMANTI GOAL – 86’ – The Italian blasts one home from 40 yards.
What They Said: Steve Corica: “We were the better team on the day and created the better chances we just didn’t finish them off and it was a very good goal which finished us off.
“Our boys played well, we defended well, they didn’t cause us too many issues and it was just one moment, we shouldn’t have lost today, it’s as simple as that.
“We should be doing better than we are, it’s half way through the season and there’s a lot of work to do but we’ve got a game on Thursday against Melbourne Victory so we need to pick ourselves up for that.”
Match Report: Sydney FC will rue a host of missed chances after going down to a 40 yard wonder goal from Alessandro Diamanti.
The Sky Blues created numerous chances but were unable to put them away following a man of the match performance from Western United goalkeeper Jamie Young.
Robert Mak, Anthony Caceres, Joe Lolley and Adam Le Fondre all had chances saved or blocked with Sydney FC keeper Andrew Redmayne only called into action twice throughout the game until Diamanti’s phenomenal late winner.
Sydney FC: 1. ANDREW REDMAYNE (GK), 2. JAMES DONACHIE, 4. ALEX WILKINSON © (29. AARON GURD 85’), 9. ADAM LE FONDRE, 10. JOE LOLLEY, 11 ROBERT MAK (19. ADRIAN SEGECIC 85’), 17. ANTHONY CACERES (8. PAULO RETRE 68’), 18. DIEGO CABALLO, 22. MAX BURGESS (12. PATRICK WOOD 76’), 23. RHYAN GRANT, 26. LUKE BRATTAN
Unused Subs: 20. TOM HEWARD-BELLE (GK), 16. PATRICK YAZBEK, 28. JAKE GIRDWOOD-REICH.
Yellow Cards: Burgess 63’.
Red Cards: None
Western United: 1. JAMIE YOUNG (GK) 4. LEO LACROIX, 5. DYLAN PIERIAS (23. ALESSANDRO DIAMANI 80’), 6. TOMOKI IMAI, 7. TONGO DOUMBIA (42. RHYS BOZINOVSKI 73’), 8. LACHLAN WALES (14. JAMES TROISI 80’), 11. CONNOR PAIN (9. DYLAN WENZEL HALLS 85’), 19. JOSHUA RISDON, 38. NOAH BOTIC (26. NICOLAS MILANOVIC 80’), 44. NIKOLAI TOPOR-STANLEY, 88. NEIL KILKENNY
Unused Subs: 37. RYAN SCOTT (GK), 33. BENJAMIN COLLINS.
Yellow Cards: Diamanti 87’.
Red Cards: None.
Venue: North Hobart Oval
Referee: Alex King.
