Sydney FC 2 Wellington Phoenix 1
Pride round for the 2024/25 season brought a welcome change of fortune for the reigning champions as they fought off a fast-finishing Wellington Phoenix to score a cracking winner in the dying minutes. Reduced to ten players after a harsh sending-off, the visitors pushed for victory, but were undone when the traditional final five-minute surge from the hosts paid dividends. It was a beautiful finish to a less-than-beautiful game, but restored faith in a team that has underperformed all season, and made the sweaty conditions worthwhile for everyone involved in Sydney FC.
Warm does not come close to describing Saturday’s weather conditions; it was absolutely stinking hot, and after somehow making it through a pre-season Over 45s fixture, it was time to head to Leichhardt Oval for a special occasion – Pride Round, and an opportunity for ticket-holders to enjoy discussion over food and drink in the function room at the top of the main stand. Michelle and Tess headed in, as I headed off past the early arrivers to the Orange Grove Plaza to join the rest of the Cove for a pre-game meet.
Low quality pool on an orange table and comedy Lime bike journeys through the backstreets of Leichhardt and we were all assembled in the shady corner of Leichhardt Oval, ready to cheer on the girls in blue. The girls in black today though, and what an ill-advised colour to be wearing on such a hot and humid day. The opponents were warming up slowly, and the Sydney girls were being put through their paces, the extent of the condtions not quite registering just yet. With capo MMTV on her mid-season hiatus in another continent, and with last week’s Euro-capo Tess enjoying the corporate hospitality up in the air-conditioned bliss of the Pride event, it was down to Ethan to lead away the songbook selection and Daniel to give us the beat on the bigger and better drum. The boys left to their own devices in the women’s Cove. What could go wrong?
There was plenty of colour around; not only the limited edition pride shirts that appeared to have sold well, but plenty of dress-ups and a touch of rainbow. The flag in the centre circle was unfurled too, a positive gesture by the club on this meaningful weekend. Conditions were not meant for football today, but here we were, and the game started with Wellington doing all the pressing. Goalkeeper Jasmine Black was making her starting debut after her cameo in the loss in Newcastle, and she was in the action early, palming away a long-range effort and smothering another stinging shot. Honestly, how had she been overlooked this season?
Sydney’s Caley Tallon-Henniker was having a puzzling performance, unable to make a simple pass and being hassled off the ball by her more physical opponents. Indiana Dos Santos was not given a moment on the ball. Even seasoned professional Mackenzie Hawkesby was struggling to make any sort of contribution in an advanced role, and the omission of Princess Ibini deprived the team of any proven goal threat. There were few bright moments in a hot and sweaty first half, so it was an absolute joy to see Sydney take the lead just before the break, and it was Tallon-Henniker the provider, racing up the right a la Cortnee Vine and pulling a cross back for Maddie Caspers to step inside and finish beautfully inside the post. The Cove went crazy; Sydney Sydney Sydney, our girls are amazing! It was the goalscorer’s birthday too, 18 years today, and the cheers from the crowd suggested that there was a good contingent of her family and friends here today to celebrate.
We had visitors from the Pride event, who brought some additional girl-power to the male-dominated Cove, and there was a groundswell of support from the curious young fans, who joined the fray for the second half. This was going to be fun. Sydney FC failed to take advantage of shooting towards their fans, and with fifteen minutes remaining we were struggling to see where a goal might come from. Crowd favourite Shea Connors came on and instantly brought some urgency to the team, bundling forward but unable to fashion any kind of shooting opportunity. She had only been on the field for five minutes though when the head of steam was cut off, and Phoenix broke upfield to score, captain Nat Tobin sucked into a challenge that she was never going to win, and the extra player made it count, a low finish past Black bringing the scores level. The pocket of Phoenix fans were in fine voice, the game was now in the balance.
We had been starved of excitement at our end of the field, but Sydney were ramping up. Connors looked like she would be the source of anything positive, and when she skipped past her player and was scythed down, the roar of the crowd was enough to bring out a yellow card for the miscreant, a second yellow and a somewhat tough sending off. That brought the tempo of the game to the boil. Alas, it was Phoenix who looked the most like scoring, Black tipping one onto the bar and then saving a tidy swivel and shot – Sydney were playing like they were the team down to ten. The Cove was an awesome place to be. The volume, the tempo and the octave had gone up, all hands on deck with the Pride event finished, and the young’uns were loving the energy.
Given the four drinks breaks that had been called during the game, the hefty chunk of additional time was about right, and Sydney FC went forward on one last foray to try and win the game. Connors did brilliantly to get the ball to Abby Lemon, who reprised her occasional forward role of last season as she got the ball out to substitute Ibini. A sublime one-two with Lemon, straight from the Football for Dummies handbook, put Ibini in a shooting position, and she swept the ball in for a dramatic winner. Football is such a simple game! The joy in the terraces was unbridled, the joy on the field was something to behold, the players all stacked on Prinny and there was a mixture of relief and delight in the whole stadium.
What a moment. Sydney FC had won, turning another missed opportunity into three big points, and the players were straight over to join in the celebrations, Super Sydney FC belted out to perfection and We Are Sydney rounding off the day’s entertainment. Prinny danced a jig as the fans chanted her name. The scenes afterwards were like those of last year, happy smiling faces and lots of crowd interaction between player and fans. The return of the good times. It’s times like this that remind us why we go to the games, and it tees up a cracker next week as the Cove tour of duty takes us to the nation’s capital for a revenge mission against Canberra United. The late season trip last year saw us miss out on the Premiership – this season we have little to play for other than to turn the tables and see them miss out on the top six. Are we that petty?
See you all at McKellar Park on Saturday, come on you girls in blue! Let’s finish this season with a flourish and get the fans excited for next season.