Sydney FC have overcome a stubborn Wellington Phoenix to record their third win in a row with a 2-1 victory in front of 14,000 fans at Allianz Stadium.
Knowing that a win could potentially move them up to third on the A-League ladder, Sydney FC started the game at a frantic pace.
Great passing in the midfield combined with some great defence and a brilliant performance from goalkeeper Janjetovic all eventuated in the win that they needed.
A note has to be mentioned regarding the standard of refereeing in this game. One can not begin to imagine what must go through a referees mind when making a call (or not) but in this game, I think at least be consistent with the calls.
Sydney defender was dismissed in the 65th minute after a second yellow card. both of which were very soft but on the other side, Many Wellington players were given warnings for challenges more worthy.
This is a note to all referees out in the football land, if your going to be bad, be consistently bad.
Do not come off on-sided like some referees do. Ok, enough about the referees!
The Phoenix, boosted with the return of the New Zealand All Whites from their mid week loss to Mexico, looked at times scrappy and tired and only came to life in the dying minutes of the game.
Harvier Hernandez was at the thick of everything for the lacklustre Phoenix but in the end, it was not enough.
Sydney FC did themselves no favours in this game.
Many players seemed themselves tired. Passing was not always crisp but as the old saying goes, when you play against crap, you play crap.
Below are the player ratings for the game.
Vedran Janjetovic: definitely, the confidence of winning the last two games has really started to show with this young keeper. Played the best game in a sky blue shirt since his debut just over a year ago. 8/10
Pedj Bojic: Played his usual solid game and was unfairly dismissed for a second yellow card. will be missed next week. 7/10
Nikola Petkovic: Going from strength to strength, Nikola will end up being the un sung hero for Sydney FC this year should they go all the way. 8/10
Seb Ryall: Keeps making it very hard to bench him with another solid performance. Really working well with Nikola. Possibly the new super defensive duo SYD FC have been looking for. 8/10
Ali Abbas: Worked tirelessly on the left wing and defence. Will make it very hard for Marc Warren to get his position back next week.
Brett Emerton: Great to see his form returning to the standard that we all know. Tonight, the ex-Socceroo was involved in everything and did not stop running for the entire 94 minutes. Passing accuracy and defence was on top tonight in a high pressure game. 9/10 (man of the match)
Nick Carle: Controlled and owned the midfield tonight. Displayed his quality in defence and attack plus his vision and composure when needed. 8/10
Alessandro Del Piero: Not one of his best games and yet still forced two great saves from the Phoenix keeper. 7/10
Chris Naumoff: Still searching for his first A-League goal, chris worked hard but at times seemed that he was lacking direction. Still young and will learn but overall good game. 6/10
Joel Chianese: Worked hard this evening but like Naumoff, seemed at times like he needed to be directed. overran some plays and did not read some other. 6/10
Richard Garcia: Played his usual tough, chase everything down game but tonight added what could be considered one of the goals of the season. 8/10
A special mention has to be made for new signing Ranko Despotovik. In his 18 minutes on the field, Sydney fans got to see the reason Frank Farina wanted to sign him.
He’s tall, quick, solid and most importantly, knows where the goal is. Great to have scored the winning goal in the last minute of the game on his Sydney FC Debut.
This a could be a fairytale start to a fairytale season for Sydney FC.
Kyle Stewart
Roar Pro
Dimento pls
Mossy
Guest
Agree he is only young and will get better good to see frank giving young guys a go bet he's a lot quicker than mcflynn
Mossy
Guest
Will only ever be an FCC fan but be realistic they were ordinary going forward last night
Mossy
Guest
Your joking about second yellow for bojic he dragged him down already on acard dumb stuff
Mossy
Guest
Disagree thought bojic was stupid and deserved second card don't know about the first but studs were showing overall thought we played crap didn't hold the ball enough. Some one needs to teach Chinese what offside is
keyless sky blues fan
Guest
Just you mate! Naumoff is very quick and a gun, he just doesn't seem to actually sprint like you say very often but he's definitely very quick. I think he will take a bit more to settle but by the later stages of the season he will be absolutely killing it!
JonJax
Guest
+2
Alessandro Vari
Roar Pro
Is it just me or do our young players look bereft of pace and athleticism? Naumoff can't sprint to save his life!
Joe Dimento
Roar Rookie
Tutus, Yes, its true that if we were playing one of the top teams, things could of been different. I did write that the young players looked like they were lacking direction. The midfield and the passing could be down to the Wellington game plan. They too pressed up high and SYDFC were passing back to break up their plays. SYDFC had 8 shots on goal with a total of 18 attempts. Like I said, unfortunately, when you play below par teams, it often reflects on your own performance. We got the win, it wasn't pretty but we got the 3 points!
Titus
Guest
Joe, we were terrible. No combinations and fluency in the passing, no movement, slow tempo, continually passing backwards and ignoring forward runs, bereft of ideas in the final third, young kids who looked like they had received no coaching but also like they were too scared to have a go. There were moments of individual quality but as a team it was a shambles, defence was ok though. Enjoy the results while you can though because one thing is for sure, we aren't going to get them against the top teams, unless we somehow manage to drag them down to our level, and after watching a game like BRI/WSW I can't help but think this would be a shame.
Joe Dimento
Roar Rookie
Titus, Its always easy to remember the bad things a player does. But over 90 minutes, if you weigh it all up, the good outshines the bad. SYDFC played well for most parts but were lacking on the final pass or shot. They looked flat but still got the win. For every negative there is a positive to follow. Its always easy to say 'farina out' but he has turned this season around. The only mistake I seen last night was bringing in McFlynn. Clearly not ready this season. If your a real SYDFC fan, support the positives, don't project the negatives!
Titus
Guest
I don't know that any player on the field performed at any higher than a 6. It was a terrible game that seems to be being glossed over because of an amazing finish. I'm tending back into the Farina out camp after that one.
Qantas supports Australian Football
Guest
Artist---agree we were really flat on the night. luckily we were the home team. I like Abbas at Left back he plays a lot better in that position and I hope Frank keeps him there. Yes that position is new to him, but he certainly is more effective playing there.
Qantas supports Australian Football
Guest
Joe---good to have you write the analysis on our Sky Blues---love your writing style, but it was a penalty and we were lucky the ref missed it.. (Looking forward to your next analysis article)
Joe Dimento
Roar Rookie
Hello Artist.. My match ratings may be a bit one sided but I am a SYDFC reporter... Bojic did not deserve the send off. The second yellow was barley a free kick. I like the fortress idea. I really hope we use that. You are being harsh on our midfield. Carle and especially emmo played their guts out. The comments ftom the crowd during thr game were "who is the new number 7" Yes we rode our luck but sometimes you need it.
The artist formally known as Dave
Guest
Ah beat me to the reply Joe! Yes perhaps you are right its easy to see the negatives and forget the positives. On the positive side what you can see is the ghost of a system of play starting to show, particularly down the right. Add to that the home form from last year has continued. We just can't seem to lose at home! (Except the derbies of course! :( ). We ARE improving into the season. I have hope! I swear we are the tottenham of the A-league! There is ALWAYS drama! And I love it!!!
The artist formally known as Dave
Guest
Agree with just about all of that Qantas. These SFC ratings by Joe are completely one-eyed but I think its that that makes them so entertaining haha. I thought we looked very flat. Wellington were just more up for it than us and were first to everything. We were the ones who looked tired! Not sure how that happens after all their travelling. No complaints about the red. Two silly and unnecessary tackles from bojic. Its a real shame though because he and Emmo are developing a brilliant combination down the right. Ryall probably man of the match for me. He and petkovic (spelling?) are coming along nicely. Thank god for petkovic. Absolute god send. Abbas was decent but there were a few times were it was obvious left back isn't his position. Still far prefer him over warren though. Our midfield really wasn't great. Emmo I would say was the best of them. Carle and even ADP really had an off day. Garcia was having an absolute shocker until he pulled that goal from no where. Screamer! After that he was one of the best for us. Naumoff and Chinese were both pretty anonymous. It seems that naumoff has a worrying and severe lack of pace!? Anyway we used up a fair dose of luck today. A better team would have killed us. Worrying to hear farina say after the game that there was no complacency. Was he watching a different game to me?
Joe Dimento
Roar Rookie
Hello again Quantas. Yes, I agree that Wellington were bellow par, and Sydney FC were saved by some great defending and goal keeping. That was not a penalty. I was sitting 10m away from there and it was clearly not a penalty. Pedj Bojic was given two soft yellow cards. The first was the first tackle of the game, the second was a collision. Yet the referee missed 3 phoenix players with high feet. Sydney had their own chances and were unlucky not to be 3 up at one point. Its easy to see the negatives, but we must concentrate on the posatives. At the end of the day, SYDFC played well enough to get the 3 points.
Qantas supports Australian Football
Guest
Joe---I think Wellington were extremely unlucky not to have taken something out of last night's game who started the game well and put us on the back foot from the start---pressuring us for most of the first half---then not to receive a penalty when Bojic fouled a Wellington player in the box. We were average, that said, we got the bounce of the ball, to take all three points, with Garcia's goal setting us on the road to victory (we thought). It was Farina's night last night---he made all the right moves (with good subs) when it counted. Nikola Petkovic, Seb Ryall, Ali Abbas, and Brett Emerton, played well for us, however, the man who saved our bacon was our keeper Janjetovic---nervy at times, but made those brilliant saves. Then Pedj Bojic, sent off (two yellows really can't complain about it) put us under enormous pressure. We eventually buckled under the weight of that pressure to concede the equalizer. At the death up pops Seb Ryall to surge forward with the ball---squares it across the face of the goal with only seconds remaining for Ranko Despotovik on debut to seal the winner. What a relief it was to see it end up in the back of the net... Not a great game, but full of drama.