Newcastle Jets 3 Sydney FC 1
Sydney FC women’s team plumbed new depths at Newcastle’s Sportsground No. 2 this evening as they squandered a tidy lead, gifting goals to the home team in a fearful display of benevolence and profligacy. When Mackenzie Hawkesby put the visitors into the lead after some indecisive defending and even more hesitant attacking, the signs were good, Sydney shooting into the stiff breeze. However Madison Ayson and Heather Hinz coughed up a simple tap in for the equaliser and a second goal followed after Sydney gave the ball away in midfield to have our girls in white behind at the break. Despite playing with the wind and dominating for large parts of the second half, the result was put beyond doubt when the defence went AWOL and the remainder of the game was spent trying desperately to claw a way back into the contest. An evening rescued by the Matildas, the Sydney FC players will not want to dwell on this performance on a team or personal level.
A difficult decision was made once the Matildas were ripped away from Sydney for the knockout stages of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup, and the consolation prize was being able to travel up to Newcastle to see Sydney FC women’s for the first time in many weeks. Leaving just after 4pm, there was little to slow us down and we rocked up at Sportsground No 2 near the centre of the city not long after 6pm. The players had just come out to warm up, the beer tent was being set up and there was already a line at the coffee van at the north end of this lovely venue.
The Cove set up stall in the corner of that same end, and welcomed the teams out onto the field for kick-off singing We Are Sydney into the breeze – who knows if it was audible, but the drum was thumping and voices were loud from where we were. Sydney had changes, Kirsty Fenton nowhere to be seen, and there were starts for the youthful Clare Corbett and Ruby Sullivan – after battering Brisbane away, who knew what to expect after a four week lay off. Sydney rode their luck in the opening stages, Hinz right behind a fierce shot, grabbing the ball at the second attempt, and she had to tip a header wide when she realised it might be sneaking in. Hinz was scrambling across goal again as the fierce wind curled the corner goalwards and getting to half time at 0-0 would surely be the objective here and to build from there.
What a pleasant surprise it was then that Sydney FC took the lead up the far end. A long ball saw Riley Tanner scurrying after a ball, and when she slid in there was a brief moment when she wasn’t sure whether or not to chase the loose ball. The Newcastle keeper came way out of goal, Tanner got there first, and we had an odd situation where there was no goalkeeper in goal and Sydney were hesitant to shoot. After what seemed like too many passes and no one taking command, the goalkeeper now back in front of her goal, up stepped Hawkesby to finish well from the edge of the area to make it look easy and Sydney had the lead.
The lead lasted five minutes until Sydney undid all that good work and gifted the equaliser down at our end. An aimless hoof upfield saw Ayson easily read the ball, and there was no danger with Hinz advancing out of her area to deal with it. In a moment of blind panic, Hinz inexplicably cracked the ball straight into Ayson’s legs and the ball dropped perfectly to the Jets striker who had an open goal to hit and took the unexpected opportunity without hesitation. The Cove couldn’t believe what they were seeing – a goal typical of a team sitting on the bottom of the ladder and bereft of confidence.
Sydney FC were under the pump. Willa Pearson looked lost in the right back role, very tentative and not committing to the tackle as she would in the centre of defence. Hinz saved at the near post after the Jets almost got around the back, and Newcastle had chance after chance, eventually capitalising on a ridiculous pass out from defence by Ayson. There was no pressure when the misplaced pass rolled into a Jets midfielder, and when the ball was hopefully played forward, Sullivan was the favourite to win the ball, but her tackle was ‘as weak as piss’ and the Jets stole the ball and finished easily for 2-1. Sydney held on to half time, surviving numerous scares, the Jets players just more motivated and more energetic than their opponents’ generous defence. There was a potential backpass picked up by the Jets keeper at the other end that elicited discussion in the stands, and giveaways were de rigeur, at one point Tori Tumeth complaining about something even though she had played a shocker of a ball in the vague direction of a teammate when trying to play out from the back.
A quick walk around the stadium unearthed another game going on through the trees at the South end of the stadium, while the all-orange half-time heroes did battle, the paper aeroplane challenge struggled in the strong wind and the walking football blokes waddled around their mini-field enjoying the limelight. The second half was here before we knew it, Amber Luchtmeijer replacing Jodi Ulkekl up front.
And what a half it was. Sydney looked good, they looked dangerous without ever being convincing in their goalscoring positions. Tanner teased but the crossing was nowhere near good enough, Corbett had a lovely chance, opening her body to curl a shot just past the post, Corbett again had a one-on-one and missed the target, and the corner count mounted up, Hawkesby and Tanner curling the corners inwards but no one able to get on the end of them. Hinz looked beaten up the far end when the Jets finally got their chance, but the ball shaved the post, and when the Sydney defence opened up to let the Jets race right through the middle, Hinz pulled off an incredible fingertip save to keep the Sky Blues in the game.
A scooped pass from the busy Jets midfielder then found her striker in acres of space to finish low past Hinz for 3-1 as Sydney finally crumbled. Despite a number of corners and some tidy play from Caley Tallon-Henniker, Sydney gave us nothing up front. Amelia Cassar summed up the evening, playing a free kick straight to the Jets goalkeeper with most of her teammates in the box. Skye Halmarick’s introduction was a token gesture at the end and Sydney didn’t look like getting anything else out of the game. The final whistle was a relief after five minutes of We Are Sydney sung in defiance, and we could now turn our attention to the Matildas game.
The players did come across, Luchtmeijer first to come and shake some hands, followed by the rest of her disconsolate teammates with ashen faces and a look of total disappointment. This had been another poor defeat, despite taking the lead, and it could and should have been a few more but for the heroics of Hinz, who more than made up for her ridiculous mistake for the first Jets goal.
A short walk to the Commonwealth Hotel, avoiding some rats with bravado, had us in front of a TV fifteen minutes into the Asian Cup quarter-final clash in Perth between the Matildas and North Korea. That game proved to be the saviour for the night, and we were back in the North West suburbs of Sydney by 1am after a clear run down the freeway, ready for bed ahead of a big footballing weekend.
Should I have forked out the $1,000 to head to Perth for the night? You only live once, right? Sportsground No 2, where would you rather be on a windy Friday night? Forza Sydney FC!