By Liam FitzGibbon
February 8th 2010 @ 7:06am
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Aloisi goes from Sydney FC’s villian to hero
Little more than a year after earning the boos of his own fans, striker John Aloisi was hailed a hero after his match-winning double gave Sydney a vital 3-2 A-League win over Perth Glory on Sunday.
Aloisi’s 87th-minute winner at Parramatta Stadium kept Sydney in the race for the A-League minor premiership, moving them to within two points of leaders Melbourne ahead of their blockbuster final-round showdown next Sunday.
Sydney’s hopes looked to be dashed after striker Daniel McBreen had equalised for Perth in the 79th-minute to make it 2-2 on a miserable afternoon in western Sydney.
But Aloisi steered a header home from Stephan Keller’s cross in the dying minutes to have a 8359 vocal fans chanting his name.
Earlier he had put Sydney up 2-1 with a bizarre goal that was almost disallowed because it went through a hole in the side of the net.
The performance was a far cry from the scenes at the Sydney Football Stadium late last season, when Aloisi was booed from the field after one of the misses of the season in a 4-1 loss to the Glory.
“That’s football,” a smiling Aloisi said after the win.
“I didn’t have a good year last year probably for a few reasons but this year I worked really hard.
“I’ve still had my ups and downs with a few minor injuries and having to wait my time for when (Mark) Bridgey and (Alex) Brosquey were playing well.
“But the last few weeks I’ve been happy with the way I’ve been performing.
“We’re a tight group, we want to win and I’m no different.”
A 24th-minute penalty to captain Steve Corica put the home side in the early lead before Wayne Srhoj struck deep into first-half injury time to level the scores for an injury-depleted Perth side missing five first team players.
But the talking point of the match was Aloisi’s 49th-minute first goal, which almost didn’t stand.
There were doubts as to whether the former Socceroos striker’s mis-hit shot had crossed the line after a desperate clearance from Chris Coyne appeared to keep it out.
But television replays showed Coyne’s attempted clearance actually went through the side netting.
Sydney players were furious when referee Chris Beath didn’t immediately award the goal but after several minutes and consultation with a linesman he finally signalled for the goal.
Aloisi said he “couldn’t believe” when the goal was not awarded while Coyne admitted he knew it was a goal.
“Of course I did,” Coyne said.
“I tried a bit of ‘kidology. I thought it was one of them that we got away with.”
Perth coach Dave Mitchell accused Beath of using technology to change his decision after he had originally signalled for a corner.
“It was a goal – there was no question it wasn’t a goal – but I think it’d been decided it was a corner and I think they’ve showed it on the big screen and everyone’s ‘oh, it was a goal’,” Mitchell said.
“The linesman didn’t indicate it was a goal at the time and the referee’s gone the same…he’s changed his mind.”
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