Sydney FC shot stopper Thomas Heward-Belle has made a brilliant late penalty save to ensure a 2-1 win over Adelaide United in a dramatic A-League Men clash at Coopers Stadium.
Heward-Belle picked the right way to move and successfully parried the penalty attempt by Adelaide’s Japanese striker Hiro Ibusuki in the 88th minute while the Reds were denied a second penalty in stoppage time despite VAR intervention.
Sydney dominated Adelaide from the outset, pressing the Reds high up the park and causing the home side to turn the ball over cheaply.
The visitors’ pressure and intensity was rewarded early with Elvis Kamsoba opening the scoring on ten minutes.
The tricky attacker bamboozled Adelaide’s defence with a series of stepovers, before cutting inside and firing past Lachlan Barr and Michael Jakobsen, beating keeper Joe Gauci at the near post.
Adelaide struggled to play out of defence with Sydney expertly cutting out the passing channels and closing off the Reds outlets.
But, against the run of play, Adelaide equalised in the 32nd minute through captain Stefan Mauk.
Craig Goodwin whipped in a cross for Ibusuki but the striker’s header was brilliantly kept out by Heward-Belle, only for Mauk to volley home the rebound.
The Reds tested Howard-Belle twice more before the break, the Sydney shot stopper tipping Brook’s curling effort around the post before denying Goodwin from close range just before halftime.
Sydney started the second half as they began the match and within a minute of the restart Gauci was called into action when Mustafa Amini tried his luck from long range.
Milos Ninkovic slipped Kamsoba through on the hour but he dragged his shot wide.
Adelaide struggled to fashion any clear opportunities while Sydney unloaded their bench for the final half hour, introducing Adam Le Fondre, Bobo and Max Burgess.
It was Bobo and Burgess who combined for Sydney’s second.
Burgess ghosted in behind the Reds’ defence and was one-on-one with Gauci but the shot stopper did well to thwart the attack.
From the resultant passage, Paulo Retre released Burgess again and his cut back from the left found Bobo who was storming through the penalty area to tap into the net.
The Sky Blues continued to dominate but in the 88th minute, against the run of play. Adelaide had the perfect chance to equalise when Mohamed Toure was brought down in the area.
Ibusuki stepped up to take the spot kick but it was brilliantly saved by Heward-Belle.
In dramatic scenes, the Reds were denied a second penalty in stoppage time for a foul on Ibusuki, despite VAR calling referee Adam Kersey over to view the replay.
David Shilovsky
Expert
What a flippant response. The reason no one takes this pro-SFC conspiracy theory seriously is because it is baseless nonsense. How many grand finals were gifted to Sydney FC, the way Melbourne Victory’s win in Newcastle was, because of ‘technical issues’?
NoMates
Roar Rookie
SFC won = there's your evidence :thumbdown:
David Shilovsky
Expert
I asked AdelaideAndy this almost 24 hours ago, with no reply (surprise, surprise), but I’ll put the same query to you: any evidence for that claim?
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
What I meant by that is the choice of players to come off. Sydney had two tired central midfielders at the end despite making their full five subs. Adelaide to Sydneys benefit took off Mauk and left on the oldies. You neglect to mention how bad Sydney looked and the 2 goals concedeed in one half when Corica tried his traditional combo with Bobo and Ninkovic. The performances in the past was when these players were younger now they are older if they are on together then the opposition dominates. He seems now to play Ninkovic with the Buhagiar, Bobo with Burgess. It was Burgess who set up both the goal and the non goal. Buhagiar has his issues but lot better at pressing than Bobo, and Bobo when starts struggles to do anything much better coming on as a sub. I dont know which 4 you refer to apart from Buhagiar. Talbot. Connor OToole maybe but Corica only played him after King. Surely not Yazbek.
jbinnie
Guest
"The subs for both sides were inefficient" Within minutes of coming on Le Fondre had the ball in the net just to be given offside and then Bobo followed suit scoring what was to be the winner. What more do you want from subs?. Corica has tried hard this year to give his youngsters a go but comparing the overall team performances with those of past seasons one has to question the wisdom in going flat out to give youth a chance. There are at least 4 "youngsters" who consistently fall down in the basics of the game and that in itself raises the question, how long do you give a youngster to bridge the gap that exists between our top league and the lower divisions. Cheers jb.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
I thought it was amazing the VAR chose for the ref to look at it. Waste of time. The commentators starting to remind me of Foxtel actually, I wonder if anyone had a little flutter. Even more amazing was the Adelaide crowd's enormous appeal for a non existent handball and the time VAR spent looking for it.
NoMates
Roar Rookie
As we see once again SFC are handed the win by a bias Ref and dodgy VAR calls. SFC the protected club
David Shilovsky
Expert
Any statistics to back up that claim?
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
What do you expect when you play Sydney? They have got every decision for 15+ years
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Adelaide were terrible in terms of passing it to Sydney, Sydney were terrible in leaving Adelaide players alone in the area. Wilkinson has become so used to not doing anything and having a midfielder run back to cover for him , with Amini there who was standing around watching on. Its another level worse than having Brattan there. Buhagiar great runs previous game /and no end product, in the game he didnt even put in the runs. What was it with the congratulating by the commentators on Veart leaving out his young game winner. It was good for Sydney ,imagine Adelaides defence with a weak midfield. The crowd seemed to be governing the VAR, what was it with reviewing the decision based on crowd noise. The Wilkinson hand ball the crowd went on and on. The commentators also blaming retre for the penalty but Toure was already on his way down before Retre made contact. The subs for both sides were inefficient not sure why you would take off Mauk and leave the old guys on, Sydney had a lot of injuries.
David Shilovsky
Expert
As a Sydney fan, I agree. Was pretty sure it would've been given.
Midfielder
Roar Guru
Second pen call was a pen IMO
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
Sensational game from Heward-Belle tonight. Tough decision for the manager with Redmayne back from NT duties. In fact, he was availabe for tonight's game, but Corica opted to play Heward-Belle instead.