Sydney FC 1 Central Coast Mariners 2
Sydney FC lived to fight another day as their nine remaining players battled to the end to keep the scoreline down, setting up a classic finals encounter in Gosford next weekend. A miserable evening burst to life when Joel King somehow finished midway through the first half, but a mistake from Andrew Redmayne handed the Mariners a half-time sweetener. Sydney women’s championship winning side then received deserved acclaim for their heroic victory last week as the rain held off during the break. When Mikael Doka powered home a penalty at the start of the second half, the away end was bouncing and the Sky Blues pressed self-destruct from then on, first Jack Rodwell then Corey Hollman shown red cards. The cheers at the final whistle were not only from the travelling Mariners fans, but also the home supporters who had willed their team on to hold out for the final ten minutes with backs firmly against the wall.
The end of the working week and it was rush rush rush to get to Central to get the evening off to a good start, a couple of pints at the Royal Exhibition before heading up the hill on the light rail. We just got on a tram to find it full of Mariners fans, which made for an entertaining trip to Moore Park, humming, ironically, The Entertainer. From the amount of people piling off the light rail, another one pulling in by the time we’d negotiated the underground steps, it looked as though it would be a big turnout tonight. The walk up to the stadium was busy and coming into the stadium there was a healthy throng of punters swarming the gate.
Of course, seeing the field and then noticing the half-empty stands around it told a different story, and at first glance we were on for a similar number to the previous week’s paltry turnout against Macarthur. The addition of a stand selling solely margheritas was a good find, and by the time we got to our seats – we’d chosen our normal seats for the season – the stadium was starting to fill up. The atmosphere was really ramping up, the Mariners were out in force at the far end, the fireworks filled the air with smoke and the Cove down below roared the Sky Blues through the kick off. This was finals football, and the addition of a sprinkling of rain gave the stadium a real aura.
The tricky Christian Theoharous raced down the left to sting the palms of Redders down below us in the opening exchanges, as the two teams felt each other out. Sydney looked full of verve and were pressing the visitors as we knew they would. Overseas-bound superstar Jake Girdwood-Reich didn’t last very long, substituted off to be replaced by everyone’s favourite, Maxi Burgess, and he was instrumental in the opening goal up the far end that silenced the Yellow Army. He shaped to shoot, cutting in from the right, and when his shot was blocked, the ball went all the way to Joel King at the far post who somehow forced the ball into the net via maybe two deflections to set the crowd alight.
It was Burgess again just before half time when he opened his body up to curl a shot goalwards. From our angle he looked a lot closer than he was, but the shot curved well wide. A goal up at the break was probably enough reward for a great first half by the Sky Blues, but the half wasn’t over. There was still time for a hopeful shot from Mikael Doka that bounced in the dirt patch in front of Redders and skidded away from his grasp. The Sydney defence had totally switched off and we watched helplessly as Josh Nisbet was the only player with the wherewithal to follow up the shot, and he coolly clipped the rebound into the net for a dramatic equaliser.
As always there was a delay as we prayed for VAR to find something, anything, and as soon as the check was complete and Sydney kicked off, the half time whistle sounded. What shit timing, and a disaster for our number one goalkeeper in front of his adoring fans.
Time for a walk around the stadium concourse, taking in the Mariners ultras in the corner, and the Sydney Women’s team made their way onto the field for a swift lap of honour. They headed straight down to the away end, showing off their medals to good-natured barracking from the visitors, before heading to the Eastern Stand to sign autographs and get the love from the supporters. They received a huge welcome at the Cove, and it was lovely to see the players getting the congratulations they deserved for an incredible season.
The queue for beers was way too long and others had the same idea of grabbing a margherita instead, and even that queue was too long, the players already out before I made it back empty-handed to my seat.
Sydney had bossed the first half, and Fabio Gomes was on to get us back into the lead. It was with despair though that we saw the Central Coast Mariners break upfield within ten minutes of the restart and win a penalty up at the far end. Theoharous checked back in the penalty area in full flight, Anthony Caceres was just moving too fast to stop him, and when the most minimal of contact with either the legs or the arm sent the Mariners player to the ground, the referee pointed directly to the spot without hesitation. We weren’t convinced. The replays on the screen showed him going down cheaply, maybe even slipping, but it was probably the right call. The replay also showed just how fast Hayden Matthews is, taking one stride for Luke Brattan’s two and getting in place to sweep the ball behind. After plenty of deliberation, it was a penalty, and Doka stepped up, Redders doing the dance on the line, which we thought was no longer allowed, and getting a hand to it. But it was in, and the bank of yellow erupted.
Sydney pressed immediately, and that’s where the problems started. The home side were caught in attack, a repeat of the break for the penalty looking likely, and Jack Rodwell knew it. His only option was to break it up with a foul. He was a long way from the player with the ball, and we could see exactly when he committed to making the challenge and there was no pulling out of it. He ploughed into Theoharous and the way the Mariners players surrounded the referee, the instant yellow card didn’t look appropriate. Sure enough, after a long look at the screen, the referee reappeared and gave us the news, talking us through the thought process of the red card and Rodwell was off. Fair play, if VAR has to stay then at least we’re getting replays and explanations, the fans in the stadium no longer in the dark for large chunks of the game.
Incredibly, unbelievably, Burgess was substituted. Why on earth would we continually take off our biggest source of the unexpected, especially when we need the X-factor, down to ten players. On came Gabriel Lacerda to shore up the defence, and I really feel for Maxi, it’s not the first time this season he’s been the fall guy when a man is sent off, and he is massively under-rated.
It wasn’t long before the Sky Blues were level, a long searching free kick into the area was poked goalwards by Matthews, which hit the post. Caceres did remarkably well to control the ball and lift it to Rhyan Grant who headed home. Hands were immediately on heads though when the assistant’s flag curtailed the celebrations, and when we looked at the replay it was obvious that Caceres was offside when Matthews got his ball to it. It could be argued that it wasn’t a pass, rather a rebound off the post. Tricky one, but again probably the correct call.
The game then took a farcical turn when sub Ronald Barcellos went on a run into a blind alley and was expertly bullied off the ball by Corey Hollman and Lacerda. The referee immediately brandished a yellow card followed by a red and Hollman was off. It looked like an outrageous call, and the replay showed that it was Barcellos running into the challenge. Further replays from different angles made the impact look heavy, but Hollman can feel aggrived with that one. Sydney down to nine. The half-time substitition of Fabio looked like the worst decision ever. The rearguard action was on, and when Fabio managed to get into the Mariners half, with the task of beating five players with no support, he drew massive cheers from the crowd.
Any notion of attacking was gone when Robert Mak was replaced by Aaron Gurd, and we had a good ten minutes to survive with two players short. Mariners didn’t seem too bothered – they obviously had all the possession, but couldn’t muster a chance on goal, and Redders marshalled his defence well and it became an exercise in damage limitation. The full time whistle was a mixture of boos and cheers; the relief at only losing 2-1 and keeping this two-legged tie alive mixed with scorn for the officials. In reality though, the visitors had already done the damage before the dismissals, and a superb first half gave way to a disastrous second.
Post-game we descended from Cove Heights into the Cove. Members of the Sydney Women’s team were still in there loving life and we got a photo of the Championship medals round our necks, thanks to Margot for the photo! The rain continued to fall as we walked around to the tunnel to take in the atmosphere. Jaiden Kucharski signed plenty of autographs, Luke Brattan seemed to be saying goodbye, and the Sydney players were in good spirits despite the loss and the manner of the defeat. All to play for next weekend!
The ground staff were hurriedly removing the lines from the pitch – we can only hope that whatever code was playing on the weekend could still see the lines to show who really owns this marvellous stadium.
It was quite late when we finally left Allianz Stadium, not many people left to get on the light rail, and we were at Central in no time, greeted by the dreaded buses replace trains and taking up our place in the massive queue on Eddy Avenue to head towards Strathfield. A cheeky Uber for the final leg of the adventure had us back home in no time, and another Sydney FC game day came to a close well after 11.30pm, a late one for us old timers!
The big game comes at Central Coast Stadium on Saturday. It’ll be a mad rush once again as club football takes us up to 5pm, but it’s not far and we’ll be there to join the travelling thousands who descend upon Gosford to cheer on our boys in blue. It ain’t over til it’s over, and the result will shape the end of our Global Football week – where will we end up? Find out next week! Forza Sydney FC.