Sydney FC Head Coach Graham Arnold says he is happy with his side’s progress as the Sky Blues continued to build towards the start of the Hyundai A-League season with another hit out against Wellington Phoenix at WIN Stadium in Wollongong.
Sydney FC 1 (Holosko 67’) def. by Wellington Phoenix 3 (Krishna 32’, Powell 37’, 38’)
International marquee Filip Holosko scored his second goal in as many games, and played the most minutes yet in his short spell at the club, alongside fellow overseas signings Milos Ninkovic, Milos Dimitrijevic and Jacques Faty who all surpassed 45 minutes for the first time this pre-season.
Phoenix ran out 3-1 winners thanks to a burst of goals inside ten minutes from Roy Krishna and two for Blake Powell, but apart from that short spell Sydney FC controlled the majority of the game which pleased Arnold.
What They Said
Graham Arnold: “We controlled the first thirty minutes and could have easily had two or three goals but we had a bad 10 minutes where we switched off on a quick free kick and made a mistake which we got punished for, but those two goals we can fix easily.
“We won the second half and showed good character and had more chances where Vedran didn’t have to make a save. It was a much better performance than our last performance so we are building in the right direction.
“The most important thing is a lot of the boys got some more running in their legs as a few of them had only played around 45 minutes so far this pre-season and we’ve still got another three friendly games to go which will help.”
Goals
32’ KRISHNA GOAL – A quick free kick releases Krishna into the area and he charges forward before beating Janjetovic at the near post.
37’ POWELL GOAL – O’Neill’s back pass is short and Powell latches onto it to slide the ball beyond Janjetovic
38’ POWELL GOAL – A defence splitting pass releases McGlinchey who draws in Janjetovic before squaring to Powell to tap in an empty net.
67’ HOLOSKO GOAL – Hoole plays a defence splitting pass to Holosko who takes one touch and buries the ball into the right hand corner shooting across the keeper from an angle.
Key Moments
2’ SMELTZ SHOT SAVED – Naumoff clips in a cross from the left wing to the far post where Smeltz is waiting to drill a low shots at Italiano but he is down low to parry and the ball is cleared.
7’ NAUMOFF SHOOTS OVER – A cross from the Sydney FC right hand side is spooned up in the air by Sigmund in the Phoenix defence and falls to an unmarked Naumoff to volley over under pressure from Fenton.
31’ NAUMOFF SHOT SAVED – Naumoff is released and bears down on goal one on one with the keeper but the shot is straight at the keeper.
49’ HOLOSKO HEADER WIDE – Holosko picks up the ball and drives at the Phoenix defence, he plays the ball out right to Smeltz who crosses back to the Slovakian who is unmarked but can only push his header past the post.
81’ SIMON SHOT SAVED – A cross from the left finds Hoole who lays it back into the path of Simon to hit a low shot which was heading for the bottom corner before a Phoenix block got in the way and the ball was cleared.
Team News
Sydney FC 1 (Holosko 67’) def. by Wellington Phoenix 3 (Krishna 32’, Powell 37’, 38’)
Attendance: 2874
Ground: WIN Stadium
Referee: Strebre Delovski
Sydney FC: 1. Vedran JANJETOVIC 2. Seb RYALL, 3. Alex GERSBACH, 8. Milos DIMITRIJEVIC, 9. Shane SMELTZ, 10. Milos NINKOVIC (18. Matt SIMON 65’), 11. Christopher NAUMOFF (7. Andrew HOOLE 45’), 13. Brandon O’NEILL, 19. Jacques FATY, 21. Filip HOLOSKO (6. Robert STAMBOLZIEV 82’), 23. Rhyan GRANT (25. Aaron CALVER 82’).
Subs not used: 20. Ivan NECEVSKI, 12. Jacob TRATT, 28. Max BURGESS, 29. Alex MULLEN.
Yellow cards: Ryall 19’, Ninkovic 41’.
Red cards: None
Wellington Phoenix: 20. Lewis ITALIANO, 2. Manny MUSCAT (19. Thomas DOYLE 89’), 4. Roly BONEVACIA, 10. Michael McGLINCHEY, 12. Blake POWELL (11. Kwabena APPIAH 68’), 13. Albert RIERA, 16. Louis FENTON, 17. Vince LIA, 18. Ben SIGMUND (8. Alex RODRIGUEZ 6’), 21. Roy KRISHNA, 22. Andrew DURANTE.
Subs not used: 1. Glen MOSS, 7. Jeffrey SARPONG, 14. Alex RUFER, 23. Matthew RIDENTON.
Yellow cards: None.
Red cards: None
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