Sydney FC Women 1 Brisbane Roar 3
Our girls in blue crumbled to another dismal defeat, their obvious failings exposed again for all to see at their Inner West home in Leichhardt, and this time it was Brisbane who hustled their physically weak opponents to come away with the points and send the home team to the foot of the ladder. Ante Juric wasn’t the only absentee, as a threadbare coaching staff and an interim manager did nothing to suggest that the rest of this A-League season will be anything other than the same shit. There was effort, there was intent, but the execution was as bad as we’ve seen this season, the only consolation being a superb strike from Hana Lowry to give the noisy Cove fans false hope in the first half. The only way is up, baby.
A lovely Sydney day was coming to an end and with Michelle playing football, I made the solo journey to Leichhardt Oval, jagging a spot in the main car park to avoid the walk back up the hill and headed past the entrance where the gates were just opening at 6.15pm. Numbers were low, but this was still over an hour from kick off, and I was heading through the back streets to the Orange Grove Hotel for a quick pit stop to meet up with fellow Women’s Cove members. The lack of merch van at the entrance told a story, the slightly later 7.30pm kick off in the first week of a new school term likely to attract a smaller crowd than usual. And so it transpired, a manual head count five minutes before kick off giving us just over 100 people in the main stand and perhaps 50 more scattered around the stadium. That would of course be swollen to about double that figure by the time the game was underway, but I’d love to see the official attendance and compare it to what was actually seen by the naked eye.
Sydney FC warmed up in a ramshackle way, there seemed to be a lack of coaches, and no sign of our new interim head coach; a very young lady was putting out the cones for the warm up while the Brisbane Roar team looked regimented and united as they went through their structured warm-up. A few changes, now that Sarah Hunter, our Sky Blue Wonder, is out for the season, Heather Hinz back in goal, Amelia Cassar playing the central midfield role again and Amber Luchtmeijer up front with Abbey Lemon. No place for the hard-working Jodi Ulkekul, with future Matildas captain Skye Halmarick joining her on the bench. There was no welcome for our new head coach, James Slaveski, it was a weird kind of feel to the pre-game, as though the lack of coaching staff was being ignored.
A stray ball knocked out the blasting music at our end, much to our relief, but the technicians were onto it, and the eerie silence in the breaks between songs made this feel very much like an NPL fixture. We Are Sydney was delivered by the miniature Cove, with a few of the core group away in New Zealand ahead of the Auckland FC men’s game on Saturday, and with the extra echo it sounded good once we compensated for the out-of-time member of tonight’s core. Erik was again providing the beats, our fearless capo MMTV getting into the zone and leading us away with some fun chants.
Sydney started the game looking lively, having lost the toin coss and shooting towards the Cove in the first half. That was until a total mystery goal up the far end had us scratching our heads. There was absolutly no danger as Hinz played a simple ball to Willa Pearson, but somehow she was dispossessed cheaply and the ball was rolled into the net for a totally underwhelming opening goal. Silence at Leichhardt Oval, disbelief even – when things aren’t going your way, the footballing gods certainly know how to show you new levels of despair. It’s a goal that’s been coming all season, the young Pearson guilty again of trying to dribble out of trouble at the wrong time – this time there was no escape and she was duly punished. Don’t let it distract us from the fact that she has been a shining light in a horrible season, but this was really bad. A goal down already, Michelle having arrived full of life from her summer football victory just as the goal went in, the game swung in Brisbane’s favour and there were chances, loads of corners, and one shot from the edge of the area that curled just wide with Hinz at full stretch and looked to be in, but it was a goal kick.
Luchtmeijer and Riley Tanner were connecting, the crosses just not hitting the target, and when our players did get into good positions, there was nothing to aim at in the middle. When Cassar played in a hopeful ball from the right, it turned into a glorious pass, the Roar goalkeeper not reading it and Tanner raced on to beat her to it, sending the ball into the net. Alas, with the celebrations underway and the keeper having taken quite a knock, the offside flag went up and the goal was disallowed. Would love to see that one from a different angle. Didn’t look offside when the ball was played.
We didn’t have to wait long though, and what a fantastic equaliser it was. Lowry picked up the ball in the middle of the park and weaved around two players before smashing a low shot into the corner of the net with such confidence that you would think she does it every week. Bedlam in the Cove, twirling scarves and joy at a superb strike. Hinz was busy up the far end, but we seemed to be in control, despite conceding a flurry of corners. With half-time beckoning, Sydney were again caught out by their achilles heel – the smallest player on the field, Momo Hayashi, rising above Cassar at the far post to thump home a header straight from a corner. Heads were in hands, water bottles slammed to the floor in disgust, and the Roar players celebrated as the referee blew immediately for the end of the half. Awful defending, simply awful.
A walk around the stadium gave a good feeling of the attendance, maybe 500 to be generous, and there were two Roar fans, their smiles wide after taking the lead again at such a pivotal time. There was a strange moment at half time when the music stopped and there was deathly silence – so much so that more than one of us remarked that it seemed like a minute’s silence was taking place. That feeling continued as the referee held the kick off for the TV coverage, the lack of noise giving this a really strange feeling. You could hear everything that the players were saying, and if it wasn’t for the Cove making a noise, the atmosphere would have been like a local park game.
The instruction for the Brisbane players at half time should have been simply to get the ball into the box in the air. Hayashi somehow got another chance with a free header that went just over. The Roar player taking the corners from in front of the Sydney fans was laughing at the comedy noises trying to put her off, and Hinz made a smart stop at her near post when Roar broke through on the right. This was a matter of survival now. Sydney did have some decent possession up the field, but it was unproductive, one pass from substitute Ulkekl just played straight into the Brisbane legs with not an ounce of thought, and Roar on the break was a dangerous proposition. From one wandering run by Pearson upfield, Roar broke and we were seriously undermanned and got away with it, but we were punished soon after when Hayashi was given the ball in acres of space in the middle of the park, took a touch and unleashed a screamer into the bottom corner of Hinz’s goal from miles out. It outshone Amy Chessari’s goal from the weekend for Western Sydney Wanderers and the Brisbane players quite rightly celebrated in style.
It could have been much worse too, Brisbane were all over their lacklustre opponents, and it wasn’t until Claire Corbett came on that the Sky Blues seemed to want to spread the ball wide with intent, Caley Tallon-Henniker showing her blistering pace out on the left. When the ball did make it into the penalty area though, the lack of ideas was upsetting, and there was little to cheer for the hardcore fans who had made the pilgrimage tonight. The sad sight of Skye Halmarick being sent to warm up with five minutes to go, all by herself, only to be completely ignored by the coaching team brought the plight of this once mighty team to the fore – she stood forlornly waiting for any sign from halfway until the final whistle sounded and her team’s fate was sealed.
The players did come and thank the Cove corner and the mutual applause was warm. Capo MMTV revved up the girls, letting them know that this is not the Sydney we know – we’re better than this – and that they have our full support. No song, no chant, it just didn’t seem appropriate.
The security guards saw their opportunity to clear the stadium early when they realised that there were hardly any kids at the fence and we were happy to leave the players and their families to it, heading out into the night, and taking advantage of the fluid traffic, thanks to the tiny crowd. We were back in the North West suburbs of Sydney some time around 10:30pm, not the greatest time for families with young kids going to school which probably led to the lack of numbers at the game tonight.
Where to now for Sydney FC? As the Wanderers head in the opposite direction, leaving us stranded at the foot of the A-League ladder, is there any way back this season? Canberra at home on Sunday should be a good test of our resolve, and we would hope to see some sort of change of approach to convert our bunch of misfiring players into a fuctioning team. Not to dwell on tonight’s performance, but when we see Mackenzie Hawkesby easily muscled off the ball, we see Kisty Fenton play a simple ball straight to an opponent’s feet, Willa Pearson gifting possession in her own penalty area under no pressure and we see Amelia Cassar’s undoubted energy run into a dead-end once again, there are some fundamental issues with this team. Along with the powder-puff physicality, we just seem to be off the pace and lacking focus, precision and concentration. James Slaveski, you have quite a job on your hands.
See you all at Leichhardt Oval on Sunday. Forza Sydney FC!