Sydney FC 3 Wellington Phoenix 1
Not long ago, a home game with Wellington Phoenix would have been seen as a home banker, but in recent years it has been seen as a tough fixture, even moreso when the visitors sit on top of the A-League ladder. When Kosta Barbarouses equalised with ten minutes remaining, cancelling out an early Rhyan Grant opener, the signs were there for another home tragedy, Sydney having bossed the first half with only one goal to show for it. What transpired in the final ten minutes was a joy to see, the Sky Blues turning the screw to win in devastating fashion in front of a delighted home crowd.
Having spent the first half of the double-header having to crouch and jump, the retreat to the relative calm of Cove Heights was a welcome rest for tired old legs. The Johnny Warren mural turned our heads – surely that’s new, as I’ve never noticed it before, and that’s a great way to represent football at a venue so often considered a rugby venue for both versions of the game. The reassuringly expensive Stone and Wood was flowing by now, luckily all tumbles on the stairs happening on the way to the bar and not back, and the Cove down below was bubbling up nicely ahead of kick off.
The players emerged to a rousing “We Are Sydney” and Wellington had the temerity to turn the teams around, meaning that our players would lose that unproven second-half advantage of shooting towards our home fans. Having seen Wellington in action a couple of times this season, the dangerous counter-attacking football that they play would surely cause issues, but in a strange opening to the game, they tried to play the dangerous tactic of drawing Sydney in to the press. And it was with limited success, as Anthony Caceres and Jaiden Kucharski harrassed the shaky defence into hurried clearances.
Sydney drew first blood as a result, a corner arrowed in to the penalty area by Joe Lolley. All eyes were on Jack Rodwell at the far post, but Kucharski got up well and the ball fell into the path of Rhyan Grant, who could have been offside, but some lazy defending left him free to sweep the ball past the much-vaunted Alex Paulsen and in for an early goal. Great celebrations for that one, more for the goalscorer than the goal itself.
This was shaping up to be a classic. A fizzing shot caught one of the two seccies behind the goal on the back of the head to great laughter, the victim playing the pantomime perfectly and asking his colleague to swap sides. When Robert Mak spurned a glorious opportunity for two, the ball was sent immediately up the far end, where the exciting Bozhidar Kraev brought the best out of Andrew Redmayne with a low save with his legs. This was what we were expecting, swift counter-attacks, and magic from the league’s form player Ben Old. The excitement levels were rising.
Sydney pressed and pressed, and played some fabulous football, just not getting that break to increase the score, and the home fans were left dazzled by a fantastic first half display, Wellington often culprits for coughing up possession when playing out in tight situations, and the home players looked possessed. A goal to the good at half time, this would be a real test in the second half.
The field filled with half-time heroes and then there was a big delay while the half-time challenge was devised, the winner of a head-to-head shooting challenge being the first to score with three shots into the goal. After it ended in a tie, a fourth ball was suddenly put into play for each contestant, and both players struck on goal only for the two balls to roll across the line at the same time. The confusion was forgotten as Alex Wilkinson received recognition for his outstanding Sydney FC career, receiving the applause from the home end. Thankfully there wasn’t an awkward video montage like Bobo’s farewell, and it was a succinct yet touching moment for the former skipper.
The sunset was putting on a show, the beautiful sky bringing phone cameras out to try and capture the colours. Everything was perfect and Sydney were winning.
Predictably, Wellington went on the attack in the second half, Kraev brought a fine one-handed stop from Redders to keep Sydney in the lead, and the visitors seemed to abandon their risky defensive efforts in favour of a more direct approach. The unlucky Caceres, who was down for a while receiving treatment, made way for crowd favourite Maxi Burgess, Kucharski making way for Paddy Wood at the same time, Ufuk Talay not afraid to mix things up and use his squad as he should. Wellington made their changes too, and that led us to the equaliser, and what a goal it was. The impressive Old raced through and sliced the Sydney defence with a scything through-ball – Barbarouses held up his hands as he knew he was offside, but his team mate Oskar van Hattum may have been onside. He raced through to square the ball and the speedy Barbarouses was already there to slide the ball into the net in front of his old club’s bemused fans. He didn’t seem too interested in celebrating, but jogged behind the goal as if to rub it in before being engulfed by his teammates. There was still doubt about the validity of the goal, but we didn’t hold much hope of VAR rescuing us this time.
The somewhat misunderstood Fabio Gomes had come on just before and his entrance coinciding with the equalising goal was too much for some, but he was involved in the second Sydney goal only a minute or two later. Paulsen’s horrible clearance was cut out by Burgess. He fed Fabio, who many thought would have shot, but he played in Mak, and the Slovakian star’s tricky feet saw him jink inside his man and lash the ball into the roof of the net for what would hopefully be the winning goal.
With five minutes remaining, this is always a nervous time for home fans, we were expecting a rearguard action and ugly game management, but the game continued to be open, and the Cove finally gave us the “Sydney Football Club” chant to stir up all the day’s rubbish; what a great sight. Barbarouses almost lifted an equaliser into the net to spoil the party with Redders exposed, but the ball just dropped wide. With a healthy chunk of injury time, Joel Lolley hassled in the penalty area to win a bouncing ball and fed Fabio. Faced with a defender and Paulsen, his deft side-foot finish was out of the top drawer and he wheeled away in delight as the home fans jumped for joy. One Wellingong fan’s unimpressed face was splashed across the screen to the amusement of the home fans, Fabio receiving a yellow card for taking off his shirt to reveal another blue shirt underneath, silly sod. What a finish to the game though, Sydney FC showing the league leaders the way and bringing 2023 to a close and a very positive note.
The players were very happy to make their way to the Cove to enjoy a rendition of “Sing for Sydney FC” and there were high-fives and hugs between fans who couldn’t believe what they had seen. Could this be the turning point for our season? Have we found our groove again? Is Ufuk Talay the messiah that we hoped for, or had he just outfoxed his former club with a bit of insider knowledge?
We were off into the night, just missing a light rail tram but another was along in a minute, and the changeover at Central was swift. Back through the door at a thoroughly respectable time, we were tired and emotional after two intense battles in this double-header. That’s it for 2023, this has been a big year for this football blog, with over 80 games reported on, some of which would not get any exposure anywhere else. Hopefully the passion for football comes through in these pages and you stick around for more in 2024. Because there will be more, mark my words.
Happy New Year!