There was extra-time and a late all-in brawl as Sydney FC won the FFA Cup final to clinch the coveted domestic treble.
Milos Nikovic opened the scoring and Nikola Mileusnic levelled with the first away goal in the Cup’s short final history, before Bobo finally separated the sides in the 111th minute.
Late drama overshadowed Tuesday’s enthralling affair in front of 13,452 people at Allianz Stadium, when Adelaide’s Michael Marrone pushed a ball boy and feisty Sydney substitute Matt Simon reacted, sparking a mass melee involving both coaches and eventually the police.
On the pitch, Graham Arnold’s men convincingly added a third trophy to their A-League Premiers’ Plate and championship in arguably their best performance of the season.
For all that, Adelaide had the first chance of a scrappy opening when Ryan Kitto latched onto Nikola Mileusnic’s cross and took a point-blank stab.
A desperate Alex Wilkinson evoked the last-ditch slide but it was Andrew Redmayne who got his body in front of it just in time.
Then Sydney took charge.
Their period of dominance yielded a goal in the 19th minute when Bobo fed to Alex Brosque and the skipper, on an intelligent run to the left, rolled the ball to the feet of Ninkovic.
Surrounded by Red shirts, the Johnny Warren medallist took a touch with his left foot, shifted the ball to his right to divert a sliding Marrone, and slotted past Paul Izzo.
Not 10 minutes later Ninkovic was down and receiving treatment for an apparent calf injury, finally returning to play but visibly hindered until David Carney relieved him on the hour mark.
That the Serb still managed a remarkable pass to put Brosque through in Adelaide’s box was evidence of how much he would be missed for the remainder of the contest.
By that time, the Reds had steadied the ship and entered Sydney’s area with increasing regularity.
Though they rarely threatened once there, Redmayne could count himself lucky Ben Garuccio’s free kick clattered flush into the upright.
The goalkeeper was clearly beaten and frozen to the spot, but managed to regain composure in time to collect the Reds’ follow-up.
There was nothing he could do about Adelaide’s equaliser.
Ersan Gulum released Mileusnic on the right, the winger drawing in Michael Zullo before cutting inside to curl the ball around Redmayne into the top left-hand corner.
Sydney should have had their winner and more but for Izzo’s late heroics, saving a Bobo header at point-blank range and then denying the Brazilian striker again two minutes later.
Despite a late Sky Blues penalty appeal when the ball struck Marrone’s arm in the box, the contest wasn’t done in 90 minutes.
The Reds came agonisingly close to an extra-time winner, Matmour missing a sitter and substitute Mark Ochieng skying another with the goal and a first away Cup triumph beckoning.
But Bobo struck, and by the time Marrone was red-carded for manhandling the ball boy the match belonged to Sydney.
LuckyEddie
Guest
You mean like the AFL/NRL heroes that beat people/wives/girlfriends up or send nasty photo's and never miss a game and get a free pass from the police/courts..
LuckyEddie
Guest
but true
Grobbelaar
Roar Guru
Attendance: 13,452 Also topped the Fox ratings last night with 108k. All in all, very good metrics all round.
punter
Guest
Yes heard the same Sydneysider, looks promising, looking forward to the ACL this year.
Sydneysider
Guest
Also Punter, SFC has a visa spot up their sleeve for the January transfer window. Some speculation that Arnold is looking at an AFC +1 player, possibly and Iranian player. This is for a proper tilt at the Asian Champions League. The SFC board (Scott Barlow and co.) want to win the ACL.
punter
Guest
Which ones?
punter
Guest
LH, they are looking pretty good at present & just needs to put more goals away. Funnily I think Bobo is playing better then last year (assisting, setting himself up) but not putting it away.
punter
Guest
Lame!!!
LuckyEddie
Guest
Even the ball boys are taking a dive.
Andrew
Guest
Two game ban? In any other code that would be boardline contract torn up.
Lionheart
Guest
Congratulations to Sydney for the win. Trebble or whatever, who cares? Fact is, they are the dominant team in the country at present and deserve the accolades they're getting. It's up to the other teams to catch up, not for Sydney to slow down. Ball boy should be banned from those duties in future, forever, and all ball boys reminded of their neutral role in the game. Talk about home advantage at the extreme.
Waz
Guest
I would be too Punter. When you look in your trophy cabinet this morning it’s pretty full so who cares what it’s called. I wonder if you could win the ACL, huge ask but I recon this team is way better than WSWs winning team?
Franko
Guest
13k there, should have been at a packed Hindmarsh. Otherwise a fair result.
punter
Guest
The voice of reason amongst some very sour gapes comments above. No caring about any treble. SFC now owns the premiership, championship & the FFA cup, we are also top of the table. As a SFC fan feeling pretty good.
Waz
Guest
I thought it was an excellent game of football worthy of a cup final. Sydney should have won it in the first half, a pretty even second half, Adelaide should have won it in the first half of extra time, Sydney did win it in the second half of extra time. Hopefully plenty of people watched a great game. “Ball-boy gate” shouldn’t get blown out of proportion either; it should be remembered he’s just an immature school kid who did the wrong thing and Marone was merely inappropriatly assertive in trying to get the ball back. One deserves a slap on the wrist, the other a two game ban.
madmonk
Guest
Graham Arnold “The way I look at it, it’s the first of three, not the third of three.”
mattq
Roar Rookie
definitely inappropriate, you don't touch the ball boys full stop. but I was glad both bozza and slater called it out after the match, the kid was being a little turd trying to waste time. his job is to throw the ball back immediately. not turn and hold onto it to delay time. Maronne should not have touched him but the kid (SFC fan) was being a bit silly.
Nemesis
Guest
There's no doubt this is a Treble, by any definition of the word. The "year" of a trophy is the year it was awarded; not the year the competition started. So, Germany is called "2014 World Cup Champions" even though the World Cup competition started in 2011. And, it's worth noting the first qualifying round of the FFA Cup kicked off on 10 February 2017 - i.e. during the previous ALeague season.
Billy
Guest
Prepare for Football fans to complain and blame main stream media (not the players) for focusing on the professional athlete tackling a young ball boy to the ground and not what happened "on the field".
Wolly
Roar Guru
Can it be called a treble without the AFC Champions League trophy though?