Prodigal son Terry Antonis has propelled Melbourne Victory to an unlikely A-League grand final, scoring a stunning extra-time winner to defeat Sydney FC 3-2 and scupper the reigning champions’ quest for back-to-back titles.
Victory reigned in a hugely antagonistic semi-final that ended with the dismissal of Victory’s goalkeeper coach Dean Anastasiadis and assistant coach Jean-Paul de Marigny.
But the result will be remembered for the dreadful mistake and swift atonement of Antonis.
The former Sky Blue was close to tears when, with Victory up 2-1 and 13 seconds away from booking a spot in the decider, he netted a 95th-minute own-goal to hand his former team the 2-2 equaliser they’d so desperately craved.
But, in the 117th minute, Antonis pounced on a turnover and blazed forward from halfway to fire the ultimate winner past a despairing Andrew Redmayne.
His moment was overshadowed by farcical scenes when de Marigny and Anastasiadis were handed red cards for celebrating Antonis’ goal in the face of their Big Blue rivals, the latter appearing to take a swipe at David Carney’s face.
Nevertheless, there was no more stunning way for Kevin Muscat’s men to snap their seven-match losing streak against the reigning champions, overcoming the burden of history and the untimely loss of Rhys Williams to inflict the premiers’ first finals loss at Allianz Stadium.
The result is a massive blow to Sydney’s two-year dominance and stops Graham Arnold going out on a high before taking over the Socceroos.
Victory will play Newcastle next Saturday at McDonald Jones Stadium for their fourth title. The Jets will have watched in glee as their opponents pushed themselves past the point of fatigue for 120 minutes.
Victory were up against it from the moment Williams injured his quad in the warm-up and matters worsened when the defender’s replacement Stefan Nigro buried an unfortunate own-goal to put the Sky Blues ahead early.
But the excellent Kosta Barbarouses pounced quickly for the first-half equaliser, before a moment of Besart Berisha brilliance allowed James Troisi to bury the would-be winner on 47 minutes.
Sydney forcing extra-time on the back of two own-goals was as inexplicable as it was shattering for a Victory side so close to snapping their Big Blue hoodoo.
It followed an indescribable five minutes of injury time when young substitute Ben Warland rattled the crossbar and flicked another shot centimetres wide.
Then, deep into added time, a mad scramble in the box ended with Adrian Mierzejewski cutting back from the byline towards Antonis, who will long regret swatting his attempted clearance straight into his own net.
The ball splayed out of Lawrence Thomas’ reach, which was even crueller, given the goalkeeper’s repeated heroics to keep his side on track for a win that had seemed so doubtful but eventually came.
Griffo
Roar Guru
Thank the football gods - tickets procured 10:02am ? ?
Kangajets
Guest
Griffo Let me know how u go today
fadida
Guest
Got mine thankfully!
Griffo
Roar Guru
No tickets yet Kanga. I have to wait and pray there is some left Tuesday morning for Football Family x3 ?
Nemesis
Guest
Just my observation from watching Sydney vs MVFC this season & a few other matches where they were supremely arrogant & they got the result. Adrian, Ninkovic, Bobo, Brillante, O'Neill, Wilkinson, Zullo, Wilkshire looked like they had stage fright. The only player who played above his normal level was Matt Simon. Warland also did a good job, although his effort to chase Antonis in the lead up to the 3rd goal was unaccaptable. He was a a sub, so he couldn't have been as tired as O'Neill. O'Neill kept up the chase, albeit losing ground even though Antonis had to run with the ball & that's much much harder than running without the ball. But, Warland gave up & stopped to a walk.
Kangajets
Guest
Buddy No worries mate We will sort it out Fb. Message Aaron Swan Ernie Merrick photo
Fadida
Guest
Petratos is much more effective centrally jb, which I seem to recall you saying at the Roar? The including of Vargas pushes petratos to the left wing, where he struggles a bit and the Jets lose their rhythm. Hoffman will play on the opposite side
Cool N Cold
Guest
No doubt Lawrence Thomas was the man-of-the-match last night. But who will get the Johnny Warren Medal this year? Ninkovic again?
Cool N Cold
Guest
When the "red card to misbehaving coaches" was introduced, many queried, saying no change to the system. https://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/article/2017/10/31/league-introduces-cards-coaches-0 However, yesterday's match has shown a hint. As VAR does not include the coaches originally, the red-card system makes their behaviour included in the VAR.
Kangajets
Guest
Come on lads Jets season 2 and 3. Easily best team ever ? The fab 4 of Milton Rodriguez Nikki carle Joel Griffiths Mario Jardel Adelaide winning team of seadon 11 was the best team imo , but I’ve blanked out seasons 4-10 from memory But seriously congratulations to Sydney for the winning streak and Trophies this year , I don’t think they will fall off a cliff and not challenge next year . Let’s use the E league to decide who is better ??? Ange Roar v Arnold Sydney on fifa PlayStation
Nemesis
Guest
As far as I know, SydFC didn't manage to score even 1 goal last night. 2 own goals is the only reason they were even in the contest. For sure, our back 4 didn't protect the GK with the same efficiency as Sydney's back 4. If you thought SydFC played better than MV last night, I'm ok with that. We won. They lost. And, in a knock out competition, that's all that matters.
Kangajets
Guest
Nemesis I think Kosta Leroy and Antonis are worthy of much praise and surely some recognition of 2 terrific seasons from Sydney I didn’t see a choke , I saw Melbourne improving massively over the last 2 months since acl , and Sydney still playing well , but starting to look a bit tired as the season went on .
j binnie
Guest
Nem - Your true colours are showing in this latest effort. Someone elsewhere has commented on the game played by the Victory goalkeeper and the people who award the man of the match obviously agreed. Lawrence Thomas was by far the busier goalkeeper on the night and had to be congratulated for many of the saves he made, and that fact alone suggests that Sydney may have had the upper hand for much of this game but could not beat the man in green, and in the end that is the factor that matters most . Cheers jb.
LuckyEddie
Guest
- play in winter.
j binnie
Guest
Lionheart - Heaven forbid , surely one season is enough of that type of recruitment, JA has talked things up well in recent weeks but the indisputable fact is that he signed the vast majority of the players who played for Roar this year and though Waz has questioned as to who actually ran the recruitment I have no doubt that a manager would have to have been involved in the final procurement of any player. With Broich, Petratos,McLaren and Borrela gone from last year and lTheo,Khalfallah and Maccarone alread y gone with North and Brown likely to follow, despite the glowing comments made by all of them, there still has to be questions asked about this season's debacle. They scraped a top six position and their display against Melbourne City only verified that standing. As I've said to you, Realfootball and Waz before,you guys deserve so much more for your loyalty and input. Cheers jb.
Lionheart
Guest
yep, agree. Maybe we should change the name of the finals, but then I guess it's really a factor of our location.
Nemesis
Guest
Absolutely correct. Sydney FC were the best team over 27 matches in the ALeague in 2017/18. But, they will not be the best team in the end-of-season knock out competition for 2017/18. Very simple. Don't know why it confuses people.
j binnie
Guest
fadida - Thanks for the info. Saw Kantarovski in the crowd at the game but didn't know whether he had been injured or suspended. Hoffman has, as you say been listed as a right winger but I prefer him coming from a deeper position where his strength and attitude "covers" for a weakness inherent in Dimi 's game,he is not the best "defensive" player in a team. and performs better in that area just behind the central striker where any attacking impulse from other defending players can be accomodated, by filling spaces for Dimi to locate and.exploit. I still think the GF has come up with a fixture that tickles the imagination of most football fans for with a very parochial crowd behind them I think this Jets team is capable of beating any team in the HAL provided they "hit their straps" and I cannot imagine a more motivational scenario for them to do just that this weekend. Cheers jb..
Cool N Cold
Guest
Yes, i have seen many who said about no finals. Yes.
Cool N Cold
Guest
This is the first time I can see the measurement of the "best team in A-league history". The measurement according to yours is that "Sydney FC is the only team to win the premiership back to back". Yes, this is a right measurement. However, there are 7 transfers in and 8 transfer out in this Sydney FC squad in this 2017 - 2018 season. As such, this "Sydney FC is the only team to win the premiership back to back" measurement is not very good. Rather, there is another measurement. This Sydney FC team has got the highest points, 64, in this 2017 - 2018 season. This seems to be a better measurement. However, can there be another measurement? Yes! Brisbane Roar is the only team to win the Championship back to back in A-league history. Championship is bigger or Premiership is bigger? According to A-league, Championship is bigger. Therefore, Brisbane Roar's 2011-2012 team is the best so far. Is this controversial? Definitely! Who has claim first to have the best beam? Arnold.