Sydney Derby provides a magical night of football

You know it’s going to be a magical evening when the seemingly impenetrable iron fence blocking your shortcut across Moore Park suddenly loses one of its bars, allowing you to squeeze through the gap like a wizard entering Diagon Alley.

At the stadium I join the long food queue only to find out that it is the beer queue, so I repeat the process, grab some dodgy pies with sauce only to realise that I now wanted a beer.

When we finally take our seats, the southern end of the stadium appears to be well alight and the folks at The Cove end are waving around those plastic bags you get from the supermarket.

“It feels like the Quidditch World Cup,” my daughter remarks. Yes, there is magic in the old town tonight.

After unsurprisingly going behind early, Sydney FC then concede one of the most bizarre goals I have ever seen. A corner is swung into the area to a bunch of players still disputing whether it was a corner or a throw in and half-heartedly manage to boot the ball skywards.

It went so high I was able to re-sauce my pie and take a few bets from nearby punters as to where the ball was going to land. I even had time to reminisce back to my junior cricket days. There I was fielding right on the boundary when the batsman gave an almighty whack – I was waiting for someone to call for the catch when I suddenly realised it was headed my way.

After a series of spectacular juggles I managed to trap the ball between my elbows and took a bow as if it was the easiest thing in the world. If I could do that you would expect FC’s professional goalkeeper to do the same. Nope. Looks like I would be collecting on those bets.

Vitor Saba was just starting to look good when a comment from a nearby fan, “Get a haircut Saba” took the wind out of his sails and indirectly lead to Sydney’s first goal just before halftime.

The Wanderers looked to have settled for the 2-1 victory and in the second half Sydney FC piled on the pressure. There began an incredible sequence of corners, the likes of which had never been seen at the SFS before.

They say that last year’s Sydney Theatre Company’s production of “Waiting for Godot” was one of the great recent pieces of theatre but Saturday night’s “Waiting for Petkovic” must have run it close. While Petkovic lined up his wicked corners the theatre began in the penalty box.

The villain in all this was the menacing Sasa Ognenovski. The bearded big man put on a brilliant performance of shoulder barging, appeals to the referee, falling to the ground and just getting up all the defenders’ noses. One minute he was grappling with a foe on the penalty spot, the next he was standing on the shoe laces of the keeper.

Our little group was rolling in the aisles with laughter. To the referee’s credit, he let it all go until finally in frustration he yellow carded Og just for being annoying.

Still, the damage was done and Sasa was able to claim an equaliser, although my brother and I turned and bumped heads and both asked, “do you think Bernie was offside?” The noise went through roof, so much so that I contemplated SMS-ing the number to report disruptive behaviour from fans.

Could I report 10,000 fans for being too noisy? Na, I may as well join them. What I found amazing was that I couldn’t hear the Wanderers fans at all, such was the din coming from The Cove end.
Not wishing to be outdone in the theatrical department, Saba flew across the turf to scythe down Terry Antonis, although admittedly from my position I couldn’t tell if it was fair of foul.

I was left in no doubt when the referee, also taking the cue, theatrically brandished the red card. It’s amazing how clearly that small piece of red card can be seen by 40,000 fans in the stadium. The colour red plays with your psyche, no wonder those bulls in Spain go nuts at the sight of the red cape.

The pressure cooker finally exploded when returning hero Alex Brosque scored the winner in the 80th minute. It was too much for some and they spilled on to the field like so many lemmings. I mentally did the math, about 100 spectators at $5500 a pop, if the club could get their hands on that money they could buy a new marquee.

Such was the pandemonium in the stadium that the Poznan was momentarily forgotten. Wanderers fans may correct me but I swear it didn’t start until the 81st minute. If so, it just shows that the Wanderers were slightly slower all night.

It was a brilliant night and the teams and fans of both clubs did football proud. The derby magic carpet heads to Melbourne next week. Make sure you are aboard.