Sydney FC 2 Melbourne City 3
The 2024/25 season shuddered to a halt on Saturday evening as Sydney FC forgot to read the script and floundered to an embarrassing home defeat at Allianz Stadium. For all the huffing and puffing about the Asian Champions League 2 and the glory it will bring, the everyday bread and butter of a league game didn’t lift the players at all and they got what they deserved. Jordan Courtney-Perkins and Douglas Costa both equalised in an unnecessarily exciting first half, but any lessons learned in the half time team talk were out of the window as Melbourne City snatched a winner and killed the game off in a dismal last half hour for the Sky Blues. Not the first time that Sydney FC have not shown up at home, and we now look ahead to the Tour of Duty at Adelaide next week, staring at the ultimate six-point fixture. Is this where the season ends?
We were late to get moving for this one, a 5pm kick off getting in the way of weekend life, and our new home near the M2 allowed us to take advantage of the direct route to Allianz Stadium, albeit at a price. The crowds heading along Driver Avenue were encouraging, and we still had enough time to get into the stadium before the game kicked off. Turned off by the snaking queue at the Cove bar, we headed instead to the bar at Gate 2 at the halfway line and grabbed some of the most expensive drinks I have ever bought, heading to our seats just as the game had kicked off. The interest from our group of Cove Heights regulars was low, and the picky ticket checking at the entrance wasn’t appreciated.
The first ten minutes of the game were simply disastrous. Marco Tilio, looking like a jockey in his sashed shirt, teased the Sydney defence, weakened by the absence of captain Rhyan Grant following his biff against Pheonix last time out, and the cross was swept home in front of the Cove by the unmarked Medin Memeti. Jordan Courtney-Perkins, where were you? It wasn’t even the first sight on goal either, Sydney looked all at sea at the back, and the returning Alex Popovic didn’t seem to have a handle on his role at all. Firebrand Leo Sena was bundled over and immediately signalled he was in trouble, hobbling off when the stretcher was called, but taking the ride in front of the Cove when he couldn’t continue. It looked serious and he was not happy. What a start.
The Sky Blues did look lively up front, Joe Lolley and Patryk Klimala combining for a shot up the far end that fizzed wide, then Adrian Segacic cut inside and tested the City goalkeeper with a cracking shot from the edge of the area – we were right behind the shot, and it was a great save to push the ball away for a corner. Courtney-Perkins atoned for his marking by out-smarting Aziz Behich to head home unchallenged from close range and we had our equaliser. Surely the game would swing in our favour from here.
The playing surface was awful, an overall dark colour suggesting a lot of chopped up grass, and the rugby league markings were almost as prominent as the football lines. So much, in fact, that Douglas Costa let the ball run over the by line for a corner to City, thinking that he had plenty of time to clear the ball. His look over to the corner flag to confirm which line he should be respecting and then his out-stretched arms told the story of frustration. He’s obviously never played park football before. A non-award of a penalty when Courtney-Perkins had a-hold of a City shirt was mysterious, the referee having been confused by which line was the penalty area, and somehow the result was a free kick on the edge of the area and not a spot kick down in front of us.
Harrison Devenish-Meares did his usual wander off his line, gifting the ball to City in the middle of the park with a nonsense ball, eliciting the long range chip from the City midfielder in return. This time he was easily back on his line, but one day it’s all going to backfire and it was a save he had manufactured for himself a la Bruce Grobelaar. City went ahead again, that man Tilio flicking the ball into Max Caputo, who should have been cleaned up by Joel King, but the Sydney defender was easily beaten to it and the ball was tucked home for 2-1. Alarm bells were ringing. This was such a weak performance so far, the frailties that have haunted our season exposed for all to see.
In typical cavalier fashion, Sydney equalised again, Costa taking his time to dance inside a tackle and fire in an unstoppable shot that rippled the net for 2-2 and our mood changed again from despair to hope. The half time whistle meant a walk up to the outdoor boxes on level 2, where the Gladesville Ravens Over 45 team was hanging out, Wanderers fans included – our captain Rob, a member at Commbank Stadium, originally from Melbourne and a Victory fan, didn’t know whether to cheer or not when each goal went in. Decent view up there, in luxury surroundings, and the additional white lines on the field weren’t as noticeable from that angle. The groundsman was out though, marking the lines again, and we could now see clearly which line was in play. Could have been done before the game though, couldn’t it? It was really confusing in the first half.
Heading back down just before the second half got underway, two blokes doing keep-ups in front of the big screen in the concourse behind the Cove watched in horror as their ball bounced off the top of the bin where they had left their beers, somehow missed their plastic cups, but bounced into the gap behind, between the bins and the wall. The football on the field was of no interest to them as they worked out how to get their ball back.
The unimpressive Joel King was replaced by Zac De Jesus but Sydney then fell behind when they allowed City to waltz into shooting range and Alex Grant may have unsighted Devenish Meares who was beaten by a terrific low shot inside the far post. It was another slack moment from a team that looked totally bereft of ideas and leadership, and the City players celebrated their unexpected success with their coaches and subs.
Klimala’s usual devastating finish was lacking when he got the better of his defender. Costa’s near post corner nearly caught out City, almost flying straight in, and a triple substitution didn’t make us froth with excitement, Lolley, Klimala and Popovic making way for the young’uns, and that was where the game seemed to end as a contest. Sydney were as blunt as we could remember, despite the running of Tiago Quintal and the trickery of Costa. Quintal and De Jesus were guilty of poor play at the back, and Devenish-Meares looked out of ideas trying the same short ball every time from a goalkick, despite the move not working once. City had perhaps the best chance to wrap the game up, Devenish-Meares blocking a stinging shot from Behich.
The traditional storming finish and get-out-of-jail card wasn’t there today. All we had was cheap giveaways and unnecessary pressure, while at the other end, whenever our players found space on the wings, there was no one to aim at in the middle. The lack of urgency was incredible, even Costa ambling over to take a late corner when he should have been sprinting for the ball. The final whistle was met with apathy from the remaining crowd, a lot of people having accepted our fate well before stoppage time. What a dismal second-half performance, and one that could be so costly to our hopes of finishing in a finals spot.
Being an early kick off, there was a lot of interest in the players after the game; we applauded those players who acknowledged the support, but we weren’t going to hang around and dwell on this terrible result. Off into the drizzle we headed, a queue of people snaking out onto Driver Avenue from the Entertainment Quarter hopefully heading to watch something a bit more inspiring than a 3-2 home defeat. We were back just after 9pm, parental Uber duties making for a quiet night with no EPL to consume.
Disappointing. Uninspiring. Worrying. Deflating. Four words to describe that second half performance. Hopefully Rhyan Grant is back on the weekend for the trip to Adelaide, his grit and anticipation at the back was sorely missed. Onwards and upwards. Forza Sydney FC.