Sydney FC striker Bruno Cazarine headed home an 89th minute winner to give Sydney FC a thrilling 2-1 win over Gold Coast and end the six-match winless streak at the Sydney Football Stadium.
Sydney FC striker Bruno Cazarine headed home an 89th minute winner to give Sydney FC a thrilling 2-1 win over Gold Coast and end the six-match winless streak at the Sydney Football Stadium.
Sydney FC deserved the victory but had to do it the hard way, coming from a goal down to score two goals in the last 30 minutes through Man of the Match Karol Kisel and Cazarine.
The victory moves the Sky Blues into 5th place on the Hyundai A-League ladder ahead of the Australia Day blockbuster against Melbourne Victory on Thursday.
Vitezslav Lavicka made just one change to the team that drew 1-1 with Perth Glory midweek as Pascal Bosschaart returned from suspension in place of the unlucky Sebastian Ryall.
Brett Emerton passed a fitness test on his ankle two hours before kick off and took his place in the team for a game Lavicka described as “like a Grand Final”.
His team certainly understood that message as they started with passion and pace and went within a whisker of opening the scoring in the 3rd minute when Emerton crashed a free kick into the post and Terry Antonis got to the rebound only to see his shot well saved by Gold Coast ‘keeper Jerrad Tyson.
The Sky Blues started the match with good tempo and a desire to get forward down the flanks as Rhyan Grant in particular ventured forward in tandem with Emerton down the right.
Gold Coast took a while to get into the game but when they did the visitors had two great chances within 60 seconds in the 17th minute. An Ante Rozic header screwed wide form a corner before Jonas Salley thumped a header into the bar from a free kick.
Sydney were warned and responded well with Nick Carle forcing a good save from Tyson in the 21st minute.
In the 25th minute Rhyan Grant showed again the form that has seen him retain a place in the starting side. Tyson threw a ball to his left full back but Grant anticipated the throw, beat his man to the ball and then let rip with a thunderous shot that forced Tyson into a great save down low.
Two minutes later Tyson again saved his side with a one-on-one save denying Karol Kisel after the Slovakian was played through the Gold Coast defence by Carle.
The first half ended 0-0 with Sydney FC having the better of general play and chances although Gold Coast were not too far out of the contest.
The game slowed in tempo after the break and it took until the 52nd minute for either tome to get a shot away as Scott Jamieson had a low shot touched around the post by Tyson.
Sydney FC-s wasted opportunities haunted them in the 54th minute when Gold Coast took the lead against the run of play when a Peter Jungschlager was met sweetly by Ben Halloran and it cannoned off the left hand post and nestled into the back of the net.
Lavicka made a tactical substitution with Bruno Cazarine replacing Antonis, pushing two up front and Carle in behind the Bridge-Cazarine pairing.
The goal and change shook Sydney into action and twice within a minute Gold Coast defender cleared a goalbound Sky Blues shot to safety in the 61st minute. Bridge was the first unlucky Sydney player with a far post volley blocked and from the resultant corner a Carle shot was clipped over the cross bar with ‘keeper Tyson well beaten.
The goal Sydney had threatened to score finally arrived in the 70th minute when Kisel scored his 3rd goal of the season when he latched onto a Bosschaart long throw and lashed the ball into the top corner of the net.
Lavicka made another change, bringing on Dimi Petratos for playmaker Carle in the 76th minute.
At that stage the game opened right up with end-to-end football giving both teams a belief they could find a winner.
That winner came via the head of Bruno Cazarine, who leapt high to nod home a delightful Karol Kisel cross in the 89th minute.
Sydney FC now travels to Melbourne to take on arch rivals Melbourne Victory in front of what will be a huge Australia Day crowd at AAMI Park before returning to the Sydney Football Stadium on 5 February for the visit of the Newcastle Jets.
Sydney FC 2 (Karol Kisel 70, Bruno Cazarine 89) d Gold Coast United 1 (Ben Halloran 54)
Sydney Football Stadium
Crowd: 8,541
Referee: Strebre Delovski
Sydney FC: 1. Liam Reddy, 4. Pascal Bosschaart, 5. Michael Beauchamp, 7. Brett Emerton (2. Sebastian Ryall ‘92), 8. Karol Kisel, 10 Nick Carle (11. Dimi Petratos ‘76), 15. Terry McFlynn (c), 17. Terry Antonis (9. Bruno Cazarine ‘60), 19. Mark Bridge, 21. Scott Jamieson, 23. Rhyan Grant.
Sub not used: 20. Ivan Necevski.
Yellow cards: Brett Emerton 64, Rhyan Grant 72, Dimi Petratos 84
Red cards: Nil
Gold Coast: 20. Jerrad Tyson, 3. Michael Thwaite, 5. Kristian Rees, 13. Ante Rozic (23. Dylan McGowan ‘82), 14. Ben Halloran, 15. Adam Traore, 17. Chris Harrold (32. Chris Lucas ‘81), 18. James Brown, 22. Peter Jungschlager, 24. Jonas Salley, 29. Mitch Bevan (28. Daniel Bowles ‘38).
Sub not used: 40.Chris O-Connor (gk).
Yellow cards: Nil
Red cards: Nil
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And fans can score hat-tricks by buying 3-Game Packs for all of our remaining Saturday home games. Guarantee a good seat for Emerton vs Kewell in the Melbourne Victory game by purchasing our Big Night Out 3-Pack from just $50 here on our website.
