Sydney FC moved up to third on the Hyundai A-League ladder and recorded their third win of the season over the Newcastle Jets with a 2-0 victory at Hunter Stadium.
Sydney FC moved up to third on the Hyundai A-League ladder and recorded their third win of the season over the Newcastle Jets with a 2-0 victory at Hunter Stadium.
The Sky Blues second successive win came courtesy of second half goals from Sasa Ognenovski and Alessandro Del Piero.
Socceroos centre half Ognenovski powered a header home on the hour from a Del Piero corner before the Italian secured the three points with a well taken penalty on 72 minutes.
Head Coach Frank Farina brought in Hagi Gligor in place of Milos Dimitrijevic while 19 year old Themba Muata-Marlow made his debut at right back replacing the suspended Aaron Calver.
After a cagey opening 20 minutes Newcastle Jets were the first to muster a chance when James Virgili struck an angled shot which Janjetovic finger tipped around the post.
Sydney FC were next to have a chance on 30 minutes when Del Piero ‘s reverse pass put Despotovic clear but the Serbians left foot shot was blocked by the foot of Birighitti in the Jets goal.
The half time whistle blew with the sides level at 0-0 and neither team troubling the keepers in the final 15 minutes of the half.
Newcastle began the stronger in the second half and Janjetovic did well to stop Zadkovich diving to his right to block his shot, but it was Sydney FC who were the first to open the scoring.
Del Piero won a corner on the Sky Blues left and delivered a perfect cross which the on rushing Ognenovski powerfully headed home off the crossbar.
It wasn-t long before Sydney FC doubled their lead. The Jets gave the ball away and Del Piero had a free run at Regan in the Newcastle defence. The World Cup winner attempted to skip past the centre half but Regan could only bring him down and referee Strebre Delovski awarded the penalty.
Del Piero stroked the ball home sending the keeper the wrong way to give the Sky Blues a healthy advantage with 18 minutes to play.
Both teams made substitutions in the remaining time however the Jets rarely troubled the Sydney FC defence and the Sky Blues held firm to record the 2-0 win and move into third place on the ladder ahead of Melbourne Victory-s clash with Adelaide United.
Sydney FC 2 (Ognenovski 60-, Del Piero 72-) d. Newcastle Jets 0
Hunter Stadium
Crowd: 12,449
Referee: Strebre Delovski.
Newcastle Jets: 1. Mark Birighitti, 14. Joshua Mitchell, 3. Taylor Regan, 21. Samuel Gallaway, 15. Joshua Brillante, 22. Adam Taggart, 11. Craig Goodwin (David Carney 73-), 17. James Virgili (Andrew Hoole 64-), 8.Ruben Zadkovich, 6. Zenon Caravella, 9. Emile Heskey (Joel Griffiths 61-)
Unused Substitutes: 20. Ben Kennedy, 24. Mitchell Oxborrow.
Yellow cards: Zadkovic, Gallaway, Birighitti.
Sydney FC: 20. Vedran Janjetovic, 6. Nikola Petkovic, 36. Themba Muata-Marlow (25. Daniel Petkovski 67-), 5. Matthew Jurman, 13. Sasa Ognenovski, 10. Alessandro Del Piero, 9.Corey Gameiro (Richard Garcia 56-), 22. Ali Abbas, 17. Terry Antonis, 24. Hagi Gligor (28. Matt Thompson 78-), 4. Ranko Despotovic.
Unused Substitutes: 1. Ivan Necevski, 29. Alec Urosevski
Yellow cards: None
