Sydney return to form in top-of-the-table win over the Jets

Having been caught short, resting idly on their laurels against Central Coast a week ago, Sydney were keen to remind the league that they have not lost the strength in their arm.

Their manager, Graham Arnold, had been vocal in the build-up to this match against the season’s upstarts, Newcastle. “A response”, Arnold demanded; the callow, pedestrian nature of his team’s attacking play against the Mariners must have left a dull drone in his stomach. It had been a game, last week, that Sydney would normally have grounded out, eventually overpowering an obdurate opponent.

The Mariners, though, cut through Sydney more cleanly and sneeringly on the counter than any team has managed since the Sky Blues began this indomitable era, and Sydney seemed in a daze, mustering a sluggish, ultimately failed retort. It was startling to see the champions so listless, and Arnold was hoping his team would be jolted back into form by it. 

Sydney scored within five minutes against Newcastle, Bobo wriggling through a handful of Jets defenders, crossing for an unmarked Milos Ninkovic, who slotted the ball home. A response had been requested and was duly delivered. This has been a remarkably one-sided match-up; Newcastle have lost the last eight fixtures against Sydney, and it was Andrew Hoole – who starred for the Mariners last week – who scored the last Newcastle goal against Sydney, two seasons ago.

Ernie Merrick’s team was also without Roy O’Donovan, their top scorer. Perhaps the smattering of fans inside Allianz Stadium would be treated to a thrashing. 

Sydney took control of the game after scoring, easing back when the odd Newcastle surge occurred, settling into their passing. Paulo Retre – replacing Luke Wilkshire in the starting XI – was offering an increased attacking presence from the right-back position, and Jordi Buijs was spanking cross-field passes out of defence.

When Sydney are engaged, it can feel nearly impossible for the opposition to wrestle back control. Arnold’s team are so well built, with each section dovetailing with the one adjacent to it; Ninkovic and the other attackers weave passing patterns so calmly, so easily, and that calmness and ease is made possible by Josh Brillante and Brandon O’Neill’s work behind them.

The way the central pair meld effortlessly into defending roles – or indeed, the way the full-backs morph so suddenly into attacking players – binds the whole team together. One part cannot move in isolation and rarely does. The credit for this team-building must go largely to Arnold. 

(AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)

Meanwhile Merrick, also building something very exciting in Gosford, was standing with a kind of grey stillness as the rain bucketed down in Sydney. His team had nearly equalised thanks to a very fortuitous deflection that fell to Andrew Nabbout, but was thwarted at the last moment by Alex Wilkinson.

It was a moment out of place in a half that Sydney had dominated. Newcastle are a team based around a collection of bolt-action prongs; Dimi Petratos, Joey Champness, Andrew Nabbout, Roy O’Donovan and even Daniel Georgievski on the right are all players who can suddenly provide a burst of incision, puncturing through a smug defence. These players have fired Newcastle to the summit of the league, scoring freely and easily, and the exact manner in which Merrick has turned the club around over the course of a single offseason will need to be examined in detail in the near future. For now, in the first half here, his prongs stalled with gummed pistons.

The second half saw Newcastle emerge with renewed energy. The Jets attackers pressed the Sydney defence full-field, sprinting around like madmen, trying to conjure something through pure tyranny of industry. Champness was sent through not long after the restart, one-on-one with Andrew Redmayne. His shot was weak and easily saved. Sydney responded by forging chances for Alex Brosque and Bobo, both of whom also missed. 

Bobo couldn’t miss, however, when Jack Duncan offered him a goal free of charge, gift-wrapped and with a bow on top. A lovely touch around his marker from Brosque allowed him to release Brillante to race away down the right. His cross appeared to be curling too near to the Jet marking Bobo, who was the intended recipient.

The ball somehow made its way past the defender and took Bobo by surprise, his foot sending it dribbling toward Jack Duncan, chance seemingly gone. The Jets goalkeeper, though, inexplicably allowed the ball to squirm clear of his grasp, setting up a tap-in for Bobo, who couldn’t believe his luck. A harrowing error, no doubt aided and abetted by the wet conditions, and one that sent Sydney two goals clear. 

(Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)

The soggy conditions then took centre stage again five minutes later, when Kosta Petratos ungummed himself and let fly from all of 35 metres. The ball skimmed off the slick surface and rocketed past Redmayne, who should really have done better. Petratos is probably the most dangerous long-distance marksman in the league, but even he will have been surprised to see his shot hit nylon here. 2-1. Newcastle weren’t beaten yet and had in truth made a much better contest of the second half. 

The rain was teaming down now, ruining the finer details of each skirmish, making good touches bad and underhit passes overhit. Adrian Mierzejewski and Charles Lokolingoy were brought on for Sydney, two attackers who might profit off a bad touch or an untimely slip.

Ben Kantarovski and Champness had both gilded chances to equalise but were unable to convert them. It seemed as though Sydney had hunkered down, prepared to defend their one-goal lead. The match entered a sopping, tense final furlong. 

Passes were misplaced and teammates went careering into one another. The Jets were trying hard, but their efforts were being undermined by their own over-eagerness and the wetness underfoot. Five minutes of added time came and went, and Sydney finished 2-1 victors. 

Newcastle had an admirable surge in the final 25 minutes, but this was really a clash between two teams – one that fully understands how to win, the other that is still learning. Sydney leapfrogged Newcastle into first place with this victory; the champions’ strength has not abandoned them in spite of last week’s stumble.

Newcastle are a very potent, compelling team but have been flying – in part, at least – on instinct and impulse so far this season; they have so many new parts, as well as a new manager, and their blueprint is only half drafted. They are hoping to rebuild a culture of winning at the club, and although they’ve completed an impressive foundation over the first six matches, it can’t compare with what Sydney have. Not yet.