Sydney FC remain unbeaten tonight having won a hard earned point in a 1-1 draw away at city rivals Western Sydney Wanderers in the Sydney Derby at Pirtek Stadium.
Sydney FC 1 (Ibini 34’) drew with Western Sydney Wanderers 1 (Juric 30’)
The Sky Blues fought back after a Tomi Juric goal had given the home side the lead on the half hour. A wonder strike from Bernie Ibini four minutes later pulled Sydney FC level in a game which was marred by a bad injury to Iraqi midfielder Ali Abbas following a challenge from Wanderers midfielder Iacopo La Rocca.
Striker Mark Janko almost snatched it for Sydney FC in injury time with a free kick which bounced off the bar.
The Sky Blues now have a short turnaround ahead of facing league leaders Perth Glory at Allianz Stadium on Thursday night (kick off 7.30pm) when they will look equal a club record unbeaten streak in the Hyundai A-League.
What they said
Graham Arnold: “Bernie scored a bomb of a goal but you have to be honest they were the better side in the first half. Once we were able to change the system at half time, I felt second half they didn’t create too much and we had a couple of decent chances to take the game.
“The news on Ali Abbas is terrible. It looks like ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) and MCL (medial cruciate ligament) injury. I haven’t seen it [the challenge] on TV, so I would rather not comment but I was close to it and it looked terrible from being close to it. Ali is devastated. We lost Corey with an ACL on national team duty and now that. He got smashed twice in two minutes and no yellow card.
“I was really happy with Rhyan Grant. He got thrown in the deep end quickly and played for 85 minutes having been out for a year. He got better as the game went on.
“Perth are doing very well, I’ll analyse their game tomorrow and it’s going to be a tough challenge for us but we’re at home on Thursday night and we want to get three points every time we play at Allianz Stadium.”
Goals
30’ JURIC GOAL – Juric runs at the Sydney FC defence and flicks the ball through to Mark Bridge inside the penalty area. Bridge is challenged by Gersbach and the ball finds its way back to Juric who blasts home from 12 yards.
34’ IBINI GOAL – With the Wanderers calling for a penalty inside the Sydney FC box, the Sky Blues make a quick break away. Ibini receives the ball on the right with only one man to beat and uses his pace to get past him before unleashing a bullet of a right foot shot beyond Covic.
Key Moments
6’ ABBAS INJURY – La Rocca flies into Abbas for the second time in the space of a couple of minutes leaving the Iraqi flattened by the challenge. Abbas stumbles off the field and then is carried into the dressing rooms by the club medical staff.
17’ BOJIC OFF THE LINE – Castelen cuts inside on the right, beats a couple of challenges and pokes the ball past Janjetovic. The shot lacks power and Bojic is back to clear off the line.
32’ RUKAVYTSYA HITS THE POST – Rukavytsya receives ball from Bridge who flicks it past Janjetovic and it hits the post and comes out again.
45’ JANJETOVIC SAVE – A ball is played through to Bridge who runs clear on goal. As he bears down on Janjetovic he tries to lift the ball over the keeper but the Sydney FC shot stopper raises a hand and stops a certain goal.
63’ STADIUM APPLAUDS HUGHES – The whole stadium stands to applaud Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes who died on Thursday afternoon after being struck by a cricket ball.
90+2’ JANKO HITS THE BAR – Austrian striker Marc Janko curls a right footed free kick off from 20 yards off the bar to almost snatch it for the Sky Blues.
Team News
Sydney FC 1 (Ibini 34’) drew with Western Sydney Wanderers 1 (Juric 30’)
Sydney FC Head Coach Graham Arnold was forced to change his side with Milos Dimitrijevic suspended. Shane Smeltz came into the side on the left hand side while Ali Abbas switched to the central midfield position.
Nick Carle and Matt Jurman were added to the bench alongside young goalkeeper Anthony Bouzanis, Christopher Naumoff and Rhyan Grant.
Ground: Pirtek Stadium
Referee: Peter Green
Attendance: 19,138
Sydney FC: 20. Vedran JANJETOVIC, 2. Seb RYALL, 4. Pedj BOJIC, 6. Nikola PETKOVIC, 9.Shane SMELTZ (5. Matt JURMAN 95’), 11. Bernie IBINI (13. Christopher NAUMOFF 82’), 14. Alex BROSQUE, 16. Alex GERSBACH, 17. Terry ANTONIS, 21. Marc JANKO, 22. Ali ABBAS (23. Rhyan GRANT 8’).
Subs Not Used: 1. Ivan NECEVSKI, 19. Nick CARLE,
Yellow cards: Gersbach 42’, Ryall 71’
Red cards: None
Western Sydney Wanderers: 1. Ante COVIC (GK), 4. Nikolai TOPOR-STANLEY (C), 5. Brendan HAMILL (2. Shannon COLE 67’), 8. Mateo POLJAK, 9. Tomi JURIC, 12. Nikita RUKAVYTSYA, 13. Matthew SPIRANOVIC, 17. Romeo CASTELEN (10. Vitor SABA 65’), 18. Iacopo LA ROCCA (35. Kearyn BACCUS 72’), 19. Mark BRIDGE, 22. Seyi ADELEKE
Subs Not Used: Labinot HALITI, 20. Dean BOUZANIS (GK).
Yellow cards: Topor-Stanley 12’, Bridge 48’, Adeleke 93’
Red cards: None
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