Their ambition is to go through the season undefeated and Sydney FC’s National Youth League side took another step towards that goal this-afternoon, taking a solid 3-0 win over the Perth Glory in their round 8 clash at Seymour Shaw Park.
Their ambition is to go through the season undefeated and Sydney FC’s National Youth League side took another step towards that goal this-afternoon, taking a solid 3-0 win over the Perth Glory in their round 8 clash at Seymour Shaw Park.
Striker Sean Rooney delivered on his promise to make the most of his goal-scoring chances, claiming a double to take the lead in the race for the competition-s golden boot, before Antony Golec rounded out the scoring with an emphatic drive in the final minute.
Sydney FC club captain and youth league assistant coach Steve Corica was pleased the youngsters kept their momentum rolling, despite easing off in the second half of the game.
“They played some good football in the first half, not so good in the second, but then again they scored two goals,” he assessed. “So it was a comfortable win. They don-t want to take their foot off the peddle.”
It took just four minutes for the league leaders to stamp their authority on the contest – Chris Payne was at the heart of a dynamic move, showing blistering pace to leave Perth-s right hand defence for dead in a twenty metre surge before linking with Brendan Gan.
The former Sutherland Shark peeled out to the left, before cutting the ball across the face where Rooney calmly slotted it home past the oncoming Perth goalkeeper.
Both sides dished up open and high-tempo football for the healthy crowd to enjoy, and Perth was lucky not to concede in a frantic five minute onslaught at the end of the first period.
The best chance fell to Kofi Danning, but Glory goalkeeper Dejan Aleksic came off his line smartly to smother his attempt.
The Sky Blues started the second in a similar vein.
Rooney and Danning came close to extending the lead, before Aleksic was forced into a double save, diving low to his right to parry Rooney-s drive at the near post, before smothering Gan-s effort on the rebound.
For all Sydney-s dominance, Vedran Janjetovic had to make a smart save to keep his side ahead on the hour, hooking the ball away with his legs after it fell to Perth striker Anthony Skoric on the six-yard box.
Perth enjoyed their best passage as they tried to take the game to the Sky Blues, but Nick Tsattalios, on his return from National Duty, got in behind and cut the ball back to Rooney on 72 minutes.
Rooney skipped past his defender and curled the ball home off the right upright.
The game looked to be petering out, but the young Sydney side put the icing on the cake when Sam Munro fed the ball across to Golec on the left, who drove home emphatically to round a comfortable 3-0 triumph.
“There are some good boys there,” Corica said afterwards. “I-m sure a few of them will get their chance in the first team soon.”
The Sky Blues- next test will come on the road next weekend against Adelaide United.
Match Detail
Sydney FC 3 (Sean ROONEY 4-/72-, Antony GOLEC 90+4)
Perth Glory 0
Sydney FC: 20. Vedran JANJETOVIC (gk), 2. Rhyan GRANT, 4. Chris TRIANTIS (7. Robbie MILESKI 62-), 5. Matthew JURMAN, 6. Chris PAYNE (16. Nik TSATTALIOS 61-), 8. Antony GOLEC, 9. Sean ROONEY, 11. Kofi DANNING, 12. Ibrahim HAYDAR (10. Zach CAIRNCROSS 11-), 13. Sam MUNRO, 14. Brendan GAN.
Substitutes not used: nil.
Yellow Cards: nil.
Red Cards: nil.
Goals: Sean ROONEY 4-/72-, Anthony GOLEC 90+4.
Perth Glory: 1. Dejan ALEKSIC (gk), 4. Mark LEE, 5. Scott NEVILLE, 6. Steven HESKETH (15. Lewis HALL 57-), 7. Hayden DOYLE, 8. Howard FONDYKE, 9. Anthony SKORIC, 12. Reece VITTIGILIA, 13. Andrija JUKIC, 14.Marc ANTHONY (11. Ludovic BOI 46-), 22.Ryan PEARSON.
Substitutes not used: nil.
Yellow Cards: Anthony SKORIC 75-.
Red Cards: nil.
Goals: nil.
Referee: Brett Hookham.
