Over 17,000 fans were treated to a thrilling spectacle of football at Allianz Stadium on Saturday night as Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory scored three goals each to share the points for the third time this season.
Summary
Sydney FC 3 (Janko 8’p, Smeltz 73’, 85’) drew w. Melbourne Victory 3 (Barbarouses 34’, Finkler 41’, Ansell 78’).
Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory played out a six goal thriller at Allianz Stadium as the points were shared between the two sides for the third time this season.
The Sky Blues took an early lead as Christopher Naumoff won a penalty when he was felled by Jason Geria in the area. Marc Janko stepped up coolly to convert the spot kick as he sent Nathan Coe the wrong way, dispatching the ball into the bottom left hand corner.
Following a period of sustained Sydney FC pressure, Victory drew level just after the half hour as a lightning quick attack ended with Barbarouses firing low and hard into the bottom corner.
A Gui Finkler strike just before half time saw the Victorians take the lead but a reinvigorated Sky Blues side came out in the second period firing, as they grabbed an equaliser again from the penalty spot with Shane Smeltz converting from twelve yards.
Nick Ansell thought he’d snatched the three points for Victory with a header from a corner with just over ten minutes to play, but a fantastic header from Shane Smeltz with five minutes to go drew the home side level and the Sky Blues almost snatched it late on.
Sydney FC now take on Central Coast Mariners in their next home game next Saturday evening, in a family friendly 5pm kick off.
Graham Arnold: I thought we were outstanding. I thought we had 15 average minutes. The first 30 minutes it was all us then they scored the two goals from transitions from us giving the ball away and maybe a little bit of complacency. Second half we played them off the field and the stats show it. Everything shows how good we were tonight and as I just said to the players, I couldn’t be prouder of the performance.
Now they have to believe, believe in what a hell of a good football team we’ve got. We can go a long way, we’ve played against the benchmark, I think they’re the benchmark this year. We were outstanding and as I said it was a great spectacle. I’ve only been involved in only three Big Blues but gee I’m enjoying them, they’re exciting games of football.
Goals
8’ JANKO PENALTY – Naumoff receives the ball on the left and takes a run at the Melbourne Victory defence. Geria fouls the youngster in the box and Delovski awards a penalty. Marquee striker Marc Janko steps up to calmly slot the ball home.
34’ BARBAROUSES GOAL – Barbarouses does well to keep his feet on the edge of the Sydney FC box and flicks the ball to Berisha who returns the ball to the Kiwi and he fires low into the bottom right hand corner.
41’ FINKLER GOAL – Barbarouses runs at the Sky Blues defence and plays a reverse pass to Finkler who finds himself in space to pass the ball beyond Janjetovic.
73’ SMELTZ PENALTY – Ryall plays a one two with Ibini and as he goes to receive the return makes contact with Finkler and Delovski awards Sydney FC’s second penalty of the game. This Smeltz steps up and sends Coe the wrong way.
77’ ANSELL GOAL – A right wing outswinging corner from Melbourne Victory is met by the head of Nick Ansell who powers it beyond Janjetovic.
85’ SMELTZ GOAL – Calver crosses from the right hand side and Smeltz loops a header into the far corner over Coe.
Team News
Sydney FC 3 (Janko 8’p, Smeltz 73’, 85’) drew w. Melbourne Victory 3 (Barbarouses 34’, Finkler 41’, Ansell 78’).
Graham Arnold was forced to reshuffle his back four after both Nikola Petkovic and Jacques Faty were sent off in Perth. Matthew Jurman and Sebastian Ryall both came into the heart of the defence with the rest of the team staying the same and Robert Stambolziev replacing Jurman on the bench.
Ground: Allianz Stadium
Referee: Strebre Delovski
Attendance: 17,356.
Sydney FC: 20. Vedran JANJETOVIC, 2. Seb RYALL, 5. Matt JURMAN, 8. Milos DIMITRIJEVIC, 11. Bernie IBINI, 13. Christopher NAUMOFF (17. Terry ANTONIS 45’), 14. Alex BROSQUE, 16. Alex GERSBACH, 21. Marc JANKO (9. Shane SMELTZ 64’), 25. Aaron CALVER, 27. Mickael TAVARES (27. Robert STAMBOLZIEV 84’).
Subs Not Used: 1. Ivan NECEVSKI, 23. Rhyan GRANT.
Yellow cards: Calver 69’, Gersbach 91’, Jurman 93’.
Red cards: None.
Melbourne Victory: Melbourne Victory: 1. Nathan COE, 2. Jason GERIA, 4. Nick ANSELL, 5. Mark MILLIGAN, 7. Gui FINKLER (10. Archie THOMPSON 80’), 8. Besart BERISHA, 9. Kosta BARBAROUSES (13. Andrew NABBOUT 80’), 14. Falid BEN KHALFALLAH, 21. Carl VALERI, 23. Adrian LEIJER, 24. Scott GALLOWAY
Subs Not Used: 20. Lawrence THOMAS, 6. Leigh BROXHAM, 16. Rashid MAHAZI.
Yellow cards: Geria 39’, Valeri 54’, Ben Khalfallah 71’, Berisha 79’, Galloway 93’.
Red cards: None.
GET YOUR MEMBERSHIP NOW! – Get in quick and make sure you don’t miss a moment of Sky Blues action this 2014/15 Hyundai A-League season by purchasing your Sydney FC Membership now. Enjoy a seat at every home match and free public transport to the games. Sign up to our Newsletter now to keep up to date with all the clubs happenings.
Purchase your Membership here.
