A string of defiant saves from Eugene Galekovic in the Adelaide United goal prevented Sydney FC from taking the three points in their final home game of the season at Allianz Stadium tonight.
Sydney FC 0 def by. Adelaide United 1 (82’ Mabil).
The Sky Blues battered Galekovic’s goal with 16 attempts but he was equal to them all as he thrice denied Alex Brosque while also seeing a volley from Marc Janko ruled out for offside, as the Reds held on to take all three points with a solitary goal.
Awer Mabil struck the only goal of the match late in the second half as a Galekovic long ball released the young winger, who cut inside and fired into the bottom corner from just inside the box, and despite heavy pressure from the Sky Blues in the final minutes an equaliser could not be found.
Sydney FC now sit fourth on the ladder and travel to face Perth Glory on Friday night at nib Stadium in the first of three away games to round out their season with the Finals Series presented by Foxtel fast approaching.
What they said
Graham Arnold : “I couldn’t be prouder of the performance, at the end of the day the result is what it is but our style of football and the way we’re playing football is outstanding and as I just said to the players, these things happen.
“Things happen for a reason, at this moment we don’t know what that reason is, but it will make us a much stronger team and it’s character building. The players are obviously down, but I can’t complain, their performance was excellent, they gave everything they had and Eugene Galekovic had the game of his life. He made six or seven crucial saves that any other keeper in the league would miss and he’s got an assist.
“I go home tonight and I sleep well because we played great, I’m sure the fans go home disappointed but they go home knowing we put in a fantastic performance and Allianz is a beautiful stadium, I’ve had a lot of great success here, we’re having tough times at the moment here, but as I said everything happens for a reason.”
Goals
81’ MABIL GOAL – Mabil receives the ball on the wide right and takes on Petkovic before drilling a low shot past Janjetovic into the far corner.
Key Moments
4’ JANKO HEADER – Bernie Ibini beats Malik on the right hand side and curls in a cross to the near post where Janko loops a header wide.
9’ GOODWIN CHANCE – Cirio runs at the Sky Blues defence, gets to the byline and pulls it back to Goodwin who mis-controls when preparing to shoot and Ryall is able to clear.
16’ BROSQUE SHOT SAVED – Ibini crosses from the right and Brosque hits a sliding shot which Galekovic show good reactions to parry and then catch the rebound as Janko challenged in the air.
22’ GALEKOVIC SAVE – Dimitrijevic hits the ball through a crowd of people and Janko fails to get a touch on it from inside the six yard box and Galekovic saves with his feet.
23’ JANKO CHANCE – Ibini crosses from the right hand side to an unmarked Janko who misses his connection on his shot from eight yards.
37’ BROSQUE FOULED WHEN CLEAR – Brosque is felled when put through and heading for goal by Boogaard but the referee chooses only a yellow card for the Adelaide United defender.
43’ BROSQUE SHOT SAVED – Brosque and Janko combine well to put the former into a shooting position. His shot from the right hand side of the box takes a deflection off the heel of a Reds defender and is headed just inside the post until Galekovic gets down quickly to push it around the post.
51’ JANKO GOAL OFFSIDE – A Dimitrijevic free kick is floated into the box Janko hits a first time shot beyond Galekovic but the linesman’s flag is raised for offside.
53’ NAUMOFF SHOT SAVED – Ibini beats a number of Adelaide defenders on the right hand side and crosses to the far post to Naumoff who controls the before unleashing a shot which Galekovic blocks with his hands before Brosque flicks the rebound wide of the post.
55’ BROSQUE SHOT SAVED – Ibini again gets clear on the right and crosses to Brosque who throws himself at the ball and puts his shot straight at Galekovic.
88′ BLACKWOOD SHOT SAVED – Blackwood is dragged back in the box but he stays up and Galekovic palms his shot out.
Team News
Sydney FC 0 def by. Adelaide United 1 (82’ Mabil).
Sky Blues Head Coach Graham Arnold made one change to the starting line up that beat Wellington Phoenix 3-0 six days earlier. Marquee man Marc Janko returned from his international duty to replace the suspended Shane Smeltz, while George Blackwood came onto the bench at the expense of Peter Triantis.
Ground: Allianz Stadium
Referee: Chris Beath
Attendance: 11,585
Sydney FC: 20. Vedran JANJETOVIC, 2. Seb RYALL, 5. Matt JURMAN, 6. Nikola PETKOVIC, 8. Milos DIMITRIJEVIC, 11. Bernie IBINI, 13. Christopher NAUMOFF (34. Robert STAMBOLZIEV 66’), 14. Alex BROSQUE, 21. Marc JANKO (29. George BLACKWOOD 77’), 26. Jacques FATY, 27. Mickael TAVARES (23. Rhyan GRANT 62’).
Subs Not Used: 1. Ivan NECEVSKI (GK), 16. Alex GERSBACH.
Yellow cards: None.
Red cards: None.
Adelaide United: 1. Eugene GALEKOVIC ©, 2. Michael MARRONE, 3. Nigel BOOGAARD, 4. Dylan MCGOWAN, 5. Osama MALIK, 8. ISAIAS, 9. Sergio CIRIO, 11. Bruce DJITE, 16. Craig GOODWIN (19. Miguel PALANCA 67’), 18. James JEGGO, 24. Bruce KAMAU (17. Awer MABIL 59’)( 14. Cameron WATSON 84’).
Subs Not Used: 20. Paul IZZO, 15. Ben WARLAND.
Yellow cards: Jeggo 10’, Boogaard 37’, McGowan 49’, Isais 74’, Marrone 79’,Malik 89’, Cirio 90+1
Red cards: None.
