Defence sorted, working on the rest

Sydney FC 0 Perth Glory 0

For the third straight game of Patrick Kisnorbo’s tenure, Sydney FC shut out their opposition, but again couldn’t find a way through to get the all-important winner to cement the top-three finish. Captain Rhyan Grant was deemed fortunate not to receive a red card for a rash challenge as the first half wound down, that moment igniting a game that didn’t seem to be going anywhere. The second half was fun, there were opportunities for both teams, but the application was woeful and the crowd left Allianz Stadium still convinced that Sydney FC’s position in the A-League ladder is totally false. The highlight of the evening was Jaiden Kucharski’s warm reception and the hugs he received from his former teammates, a lovely way to spread warmth as winter starts to kick in.

This time of year is tricky when it comes to getting to games on time, and with the West Ryde Rovers Over 45 division 5 game ending just before five and having to swing back to Sydney Royals HQ for my queen, we didn’t set off until after 6pm. Any pregame plans were already out of the window, so we took the road of least resistance to the Entertainment Quarter car park, the lack of cars in the official stadium grass car park telling us that we might not get a big crowd tonight. We were in the stadium quite early, around 7pm; that’s early for us, but the stadium precinct was busy and the concourse was filled with people once we scanned through the gate. Taking our seats, there was an interview happening in the stands, as usual the muffled PA system not allowing us to understand anything that was being said.

The flag bearers were in place, the guard of honour was ready, the lights dimmed, it was already five minutes past kick off time and it was getting a little chilly now after a beautiful autumnal day in Sydney. We were caught out by the starting line-ups, expecting the starting eleven to be read out first, so the announcement of Gus Hoefsloot in goal, Joel King starting, Akol Akon in there, we were a little confused. It was only when the announcer moved onto the starting line-up that we realised that they’d done it backwards, something of an April’s Fool; it had us perplexed for a moment at least. The emergence of the players from the tunnel was different. There was no drowning music. The Cove led us with We Are Sydney. This was what proper football atmosphere was all about. A young boy with a police officer did the toin coss, with no context to tell us what it was all about, and a quick google search found that it was a survivor of the Bondi shooting who was being treated to a night at the football, a lovely touch. They got the toss right, Sydney shooting away from the Cove in the first half, hoping to come home strong in the second half.

The opening moves of the first half saw a back-heel from Nicholas Pennington wrong-foot three Sydney defenders as Perth came looking for weaknesses. The surface seemed slippery, and indeed was a little chopped up in the corner of the field; there was a lot more interest than usual from the media, the bank of photographers much bigger than we’d usually see. The Cove was bouncing, our fearless capo high on life and our drummer extraordinaire giving the quickest SFC drumroll ever – there was almost smoke coming from the drum. We were encouraged to see Wataru Kamijo starting again, and there was no sign of Victor Campuzano, Piero Quispe making another start. Quispe gave us a trick that left his opponent on the floor, his skill is undeniable, his decision-making not so. Al Hassan Toure raced through up the other end but seemed to take an age to fire in the shot which was pushed away by Sam Sutton. Alex Popovic put the ball over the bar from close range from the corner, and all of a sudden, Sydney looked like they were going to over run their lowly visitors.

But it wasn’t to be, and we held our breath every time Kucharski got the ball. His free kick from a long way out was way over, but he was mightily close just before half time with a searing shot that whistled past the post. It would be poetic if he scored tonight, and no one would begrudge him. A moment of madness looked to have changed the game as half-time approached, a stray ball leaving Rhyan Grant no option but to commit to the tackle. He did so with the crunch of a captain, but his raised feet didn’t look good on the replay after an all-in ensued, the local referee standing back to admire the melee before consulting with his assistant and issuing a pair of yellow cards. We feared the worst on seeing the replay, the feet were over the ball, but VAR didn’t see it as reckless and we escaped the red card. Goalless at half-time, and time for a walk around Allianz Stadium to see who was in the away end, and to grab something to eat, a dinner of champions of sushi and hot chips to go with my bottle of water. The queue at the club shop was baffling, kick off looming for the second half and a long line of people trying to get in to take advantage of the end of season sell-off.

Apostolos Stamatelopoulos had two goes at scoring as the second half started with a bang, Quispe eventually firing over in front of the Cove, looking disgusted with himself. Toure was doing his usual waving of his arms every time he didn’t get the pass, like a spoilt kid who strops when things don’t go his way. Paul Okon Engstler was flattened but got up to test Sutton with a long range effort. The introduction of Adam Taggart spelled danger for Sydney, and when he was involved in a move up the far end, the ball squirmed out to Charbel Shamoon, he had to score but fluffed his lines and the ball was hit straight at Harrison Devenish-Meares. What a let off!

When Toure was eventually substituted, he was asked to go off on the far side, but ignored the referee, trotting past him to head straight to the bench. If he could have taken the ball with him, he would have. Popovic played an absolutely shocking ball out from the back and even Okon Jr was guilty of playing some careless passes, one in particular allowing a shot from the edge of the area that sailed over when it could have been a killer blow. The watching Socceroos coach in the stands might have already gone by now. The introduction of Tiago Quintal and Akol Akon had no effect whatsoever, Perth slowing the game down at the right time and frustrating the suffering fans. Quintal did look lively though and seemed to be the one player who could prise open the Perth defence, Akon wasn’t interested in taking on his player at all and kept heading back to Grant, although he did run all the way across the field looking for a shooting opportunity at one point, unable to find the space he needed. Playing out from the back was perilous for Sydney, and the attack was missing the final pass altogether. It was a little bit Corica, a little bit Talay, the pendulum from left to right and back again fools no one. Quintal cracked in a shot with time running out, but Sydney frustrated their fans to the nth degree, playing keep ball and running out of time to get a killer cross in for one last chance. There were boos at the end. Not surprising, but in reality this had been poor from both teams, good chances wasted by Perth and just a lack of cutting edge as always from the Sky Blues.

Kucharski got the chant when he came to the Cove to applaud the fans. His embrace with HDM was heart-warming, the best moment of the night. The fans drifted away, not taking anything of note from the game whatsoever, and looking down at the fans on the fence as we left, it was difficult to see why they were waiting. The Sydney players had all gone, the Perth players all still chatting with their twenty or thirty fans at the far end, and there were just a load of randoms on the field. Time to go.

The car park at the entertainment quarter does take a bit of time to get moving, despite parking next to the ramp, but we were out of there and on the road back to the North West suburbs of our beautiful city before long, landing back around 11pm but too tired to take any more disappointment from the English Premier League. This had been an enjoyable night to cap off another football-filled day, despite the goalless game. There was plenty of incident, a card that may have been the wrong colour, love for a former player and it’s hard not to have a soft spot for Perth Glory and their maverick coach. We move on now, a vital Anzac Day fixture with former premiers Auckland FC, who have gone completely off the boil and a three-goal win could see us snatch an unlikely second spot. Or, we could end up in sixth. Anything can happen! You’d better be there just in case!