Gripping night at the SFS as the GF heads to familiar turf

 
Tony Tannous Columnist

By , 8 Mar 2010 Tony Tannous is a Roar Expert

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Melbourne Victory's Kevin Muscat is tackled by John Aloisi of Sydney FC. AAP Image/Joe Castro

As an advertisement for the A-League and for finals football, you can hardly ask for a better five or six hours than we saw yesterday, with two games, across two countries, going the distance.

We got colour, crowds, cracking goals and class, in abundance.

After a wonderful Wellington crowd and some typical wizardry from Paul Ifill saw the Phoenix continue their imposing home record with an extra time win over the Jets, it was over to the second leg of the major semi final, and what a fantastic game those of us at the SFS were dished up.

While 98% of the almost 24,000 crowd left disappointed as Melbourne sealed grand final hosting rights for the third time in four seasons, it was hard not to have enjoyed this classic.

It was gripping throughout, as the play and the pendulum swung from one team to the other and back again.

Talk about a game living on a knife’s edge.

In the end Melbourne had the bigger guns to bring off the bench, able to draw upon the class of Archie Thompson and Marvin Angulo, and the legs of Evan Berger.

The introduction of Thompson and Berger, midway through the second period, and Angulo a short time later, swung the momentum back in Melbourne’s favour at a time when Sydney were threatening to run away with the game.

Credit then to Ernie Merrick for taking the gamble, and to the Melbourne Victory medical staff for even getting Thompson back on the pitch so soon.

Given the tie was locked at 3-3 on aggregate after Mark Bridge’s breathtaking piece of work on the edge of the box early in the second half, Merrick could have been forgiven for waiting to make his substitutions, but he correctly sensed something need to be done.

Sydney were all over his side, and the Victory looked to be struggling to make any impression in the front third as Robbie Kruse, who had an excellent first period, capped by an outstanding solo strike, became isolated in the early part of the second.

By introducing Thompson, suddenly Melbourne had fresh legs and a threat in the front third, and against a tiring Sydney side, they started asking questions again.

Fortunately for Sydney, Clint Bolton was in fine form.

While Sydney dominated the possession and territory in the first period by a staggering ratio of 67% to 33%, the Victory had looked a real threat on the counter attack.

Merrick’s game plan was obvious. Melbourne were happy to sit back, soak it up and look to hit Carols Hernandez as the first outlet. His job was to spin and hit Kruse, who was always looking to find space wide and beyond Sydney’s backline.

While Sydney dealt with most things, they backed off Kruse and gave him enough space to shoot in the 15th minute, and some strike it was.

Vitezslav Lavicka’s men had started the game very upbeat, with Stuart Musialik dictating the tempo and Alex Brosque and Mark Bridge looking to combine in the front third and cause headaches for Kevin Muscat, Adrian Leijer and Rody Vargas.

While Lavicka had pledged patience throughout the week, he started with a very offensive formation, with Bridge and Brosque joined by John Aloisi in a three pronged attack.

Meanwhile, Sebastian Ryall and Sung Hwan Byun were pressing forward on the flanks at every opportunity and pinning back Melbourne’s wing-backs, Surat Sukha and Leigh Broxham.

But Kruse’s wonder strike rocked the hosts, who had to now prove they could come from behind for only the second time this season.

It looked a tough ask, but they got down to work, and had a touch of luck when Strebre Delovski awarded them what looked a soft penalty.

From there Sydney got on top, and in front, and it was only the depth at Merrick’s disposal that shifted the momentum back to the visitors.

Even before extra time Sydney looked to be struggling, but in almost customary Lavicka style, he stuck with the status quo.

Clearly he didn’t have the cattle at his disposal that Merrick did, but surely his team could have done with the fresh legs of Chris Payne and Brendan Gan a lot earlier.

Brosque, especially, was limping around with what looked a tight hamstring, for some time.

Perhaps Lavicka was trying to nurse him to the penalty spot, and perhaps his defence was thinking about penalties when Thompson caught them out, getting on the end of a rapidly taken Muscat fee-kick to silence the SFS.

Needing two goals, Sydney had no time and no legs.

Now Melbourne go on to host yet another grand final, and given their imposing home form this season, and how crucial home form has been in the second half of this season, they are now clear favourites to lift the golden toilet seat for the third time.

Follow Tony on Twitter @TonyTannousTRBA
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