Sydney FC faces a weekly battle to make the Hyundai A-League semi finals after a 5-2 loss to the Newcastle Jets at the Sydney Football Stadium today saw them drop out of the top six.
Sydney FC faces a weekly battle to make the Hyundai A-League semi finals after a 5-2 loss to the Newcastle Jets at the Sydney Football Stadium today saw them drop out of the top six.
Sydney is now one point behind Newcastle and with seven rounds remaining the Sky Blues go into every encounter in a must-win situation.
Sydney FC made one change from the team that pulled off a last-minute 2-2 draw with Melbourne Victory, giving Hirofumi Moriyasu a start for the injured Brett Emerton, who was rested as a precaution after sustaining hamstring soreness against Melbourne.
Sydney FC started the game with real purpose and had three clear cut chances to open the scoring through Michael Beauchamp, Karol Kisel and Bruno Cazarine inside the first five minutes but could not find the back of the net.
Sydney did continue to have the upper hand in the match but as has been the case in so many games Sydney FC went behind when Nikolai Topor-Stanley bundled home a header from a corner in the 23rd minute.
The goal came against the run of play but five minutes later Sydney conceded a second goal, again to a former Sky Blues player, when Ruben Zadkovich smashed the ball home from the edge of the area to make it 2-0.
Within a minute Sydney FC had two more chances on goal, with Newcastle ‘keeper Ben Kennedy making two saves to deny Nick Carle and Mark Bridge, who injured his ankle while shooting and was replaced.
With substitute Juho Makela waiting to be brought into the game, Sydney FC went 3-0 behind when Jeremy Brockie headed home at the far post in the 38th minute and that-s the way it stayed until half time.
The second half started exactly the same way as the first half although this time Sydney FC got reward for their chances when Moriyasu bent a neat shot inside the right hand post from the edge of the penalty area to make it 3-1.
The goal gave the Sky Blues added impetus and they continued to push forward, Kisel blasting over in the 58th minute and several crosses flashing across the face of goal.
Sydney FC made an attacking change in the 64th minute with flyer Joel Chianese replacing Terry McFlynn and Chianese almost made a goal with his first involvement, beating three players on a 50m run before his cross was just out of the reach of Cazarine in the penalty area.
Chianese again found space in the 68th minute when he flashed down the left touchline only for his shot to be well saved by Kennedy.
Sydney Fc gave the crowd of 10,232 reason to believe in the 71st minute when Michael Beauchamp bundled the ball home to score his first goal in Australian Club Football to make it 3-2.
The crowd then rose in the 78th minute as Makela was sent through clean on goal by Kisel but the Finish striker was unable to control the ball and Kennedy smothered.
The miss once again came back to haunt Sydney FC when Brockie scored his second goal of the match in the 88th minute. Newcastle substitute Ali Abbas put salt into the wounds in the 95th minute when he scored as Sydney FC poured forward looking for late goals.
The loss sees Sydney FC fall outside the Top Six and they return to the Sydney Football Stadium next Saturday night to take on Perth Glory. Kick off is at 7.45pm
Newcastle Jets 4 (Nikolai Topor-Stanley 21, Ruben Zadkovich 28, Jeremy Brockie 38, 88, Ali Abbas 95) d Sydney FC 2 (Hirofumi Moriyasu 47, Michael Beauchamp 72).
Sydney Football Stadium
Crowd: 10,232
Referee: Matt Gillett
Sydney FC: 1. Liam Reddy, 4. Pascal Bosschaart, 5. Michael Beauchamp, 6. Hirofumi Moriyasu (22. Nathan Sherlock ‘78), 8. Karol Kisel, 9. Bruno Cazarine, 10 Nick Carle, 15. Terry McFlynn (c) (16. Joel Chianese ‘64), 19. Mark Bridge (18. Juho Makela ‘36), 21. Scott Jamireson, 23. Rhyan Grant.
Sub not used: 20. Ivan Necevski (gk).
Yellow cards: McFlynn 23.
Red cards: Nil
Newcastle: 1. Ben Kennedy, 2. Taylor Regan (13. Sung-Hwan Byun ‘72), 4. Nikolai Topor-Stanley, 5. Tiago Calvano, 8. Jeremy Brockie, 10. Ruben Zadkovich, 11. Tarek Elrich (22. Ali Abbas ‘72), 12. Jobe Wheelhouse, 23. Ryan Griffiths, 24. Francis Jeffers (9. Michael Bridges ‘67), 25. Jacob Pepper.
Sub not used: 19. Matthew Nash (gk).
Yellow cards: Taylor Regan 54, Jacob Pepper 67.
Red cards: Nil.
