Sydney FC 1 Brisbane Roar 0

Our boys in blue finally got the win, the first since the false dawn of the derby triumph and only the second victory at Allianz Stadium since beating English Championship contenders Wrexham FC here last year. A game that mirrored the last two home games, with Sydney FC dominating possession but lacking the direct threat, this was on a knife-edge until the very end, even after Tiago Quintal grabbed the lead early in the second half. The relief at the final whistle was palpable, the fans in the home end not convinced and sending the players away without a final chant.

A 5pm Saturday kick off, and with Michelle fresh from her first volunteer shift at the Women’s Asian Cup accreditation centre at CommBank Stadium, there was only one option to get us to the stadium on time for the gates opening and the Sydney FC Pride members function. So, taking the expensive road from Pennant Hills to the Entertainment Quarter, we were pleasantly surprised to arrive not long after the 4pm opening of the stadium. Pride Membership (yes, there is such a thing) allowed us a ticket to the function and we presented ourselves at Gate 2 only to be turned away politely by the gate security. Ripped jeans. Not acceptable. No one told us. Undeterred, we went up to the membership window at our usual gate to ask for assistance, and we were able to get access back at Gate 2 with the help of our friendly and apologetic membership dude. Eyes were still on Michelle – tut, ripped jeans in the members area, how abhorrent. Such was the shame, we were instructed to take the lift to bypass the members area on level 2 and arrived at level 3 for the event.

When the friendly but unxpecting members’ area staff finally worked out what was happening, we were escorted to the function room. It was deserted, a set of easels provided from the Pride Cup the only thing to suggest that there was any sort of event on today. A few regulars arrived, but it was clear that we could not bring food and drink into the function room, which was a proper members’ area with outdoor padded seating, despite being offered a food and beverage voucher as part of the deal.

The players were warming up, the Brisbane Roar team disappearing down the tunnel first, maybe so they didn’t get injured pre-game on the horrible Allianz Stadium surface. The PA system was just as bad up on level 3 as it is from our usual area of the stadium, a pre-match on-screen chat with a fan completely inaudible. It was at that time that I was ready to abandon this non-event and head to our usual home of Cove Heights, leaving Michelle to work out the food and beverage deal with the members’ area staff, who were making calls to find out the protocol and instructions for what ultimately equated to a very generous offer. Kick off was approaching, so I popped back down the lift and looked for the door to get through into the general admission area.

This is where things got a little surreal. The big doorway between the members entrance and the general concourse, behind the bar area at halfway, was blocked by stadium staff. They were preventing people from heading in and out of the members area. My Cove Heights physical badge wasn’t recognised on the staff member’s scanner. I’d come into the members on a guest ticket on Michelle’s phone. I couldn’t come in. One of our Cove Heights crew was trying to do the opposite manoeuvre and come from the concourse into the members area to attend the Pride event. We were stood at either side of an open doorway, wanting to be where each other was, with unsympathetic staff refusing point blank to let us past.

I have to admit, maybe due to a culmination of cock-ups already in the process of entering the stadium, to the non-event up on level 3, to the fact that kick-off was now five minutes away, to the fact that I’m on a self-imposed no-alcohol stint and free beers were on offer, maybe I was tired and agitated, but I lost my shit at this point. I’m not one for raising my voice, but raise my voice I did, pleading with any staff member within earshot to understand that I just wanted to go to my normal seat in Cove Heights. Literally no common sense on display, nobody interested, only officious staff with instructions that had to be followed to the letter. Fair play, these people would have to deal with all sorts of pissed-up people, so were certaainly on the defensive. Not my finest moment, but the frustration was real, and with one important-looking staff member enjoying the scene and calling after me that gate 1 is closer than gate 3, I walked out of the stadium to start the afternoon from scratch. For a brief moment I felt like not bothering going back in, such was the welcome I had received, but that sentiment passed after 0.3 seconds and I strolled around to Gate 3 and my regular welcome to the stadium and made my way up to Cove Heights, the game having just kicked off.

Even Cove Heights was subject to a ticket check at the top of the stairs. In a crowd that could not have been more than six thousand, stopping people sitting in a different section that’s already two-thirds empty is the last thing to worry about. Taking my seat was like coming back from a horrible nightmare, so relieved to not be dealing with any more obstacles to what should have been a happy occasion and a regular Saturday afternoon sporting occasion. Anyway, enough of that shit before I bang a hole through my keyboard, there was a game on!

The team was remarkably similar to the line-up from Tuesday, Victor Campuzano dropping out to be replaced by Piero Quispe, both players now playing a bit-part with the arrival of the two new superstars. Sydney attacked. The Cove brought an early Super Sydney FC chant and our fearless capo was happy to redo some chants due to the general lack of energy from the late-afternoon crowd. Arms on Shoulders is quite the addition to the chant sheet, one that is done with a great deal of energy to provoke the fans to do just that. Apostolos Stamatelopoulos fired one in up the far end that the Roar goalkeeper did well to stop, although the keeper almost slipped on the tricky surface soon after to let Sydney in.

The visitors had a chance from a free kick which was hit with such weakness that the crowd was laughing, but when Rhyan Grant misjudged a header and went down in a Willa Pearson-esque heap as if he was injured, the tricky Nick D’Agostino was able to fire in a low shot, easy for Harrison Devenish-Meares. Stama appeared to be upended for a nailed-on penalty, but the referee was unmoved, and he was poleaxed again in the area towards the end of the half, the referee quick to stop play for the Roar player who copped the ball in the face straight after, but completely ignoring the blatant foul beforehand. The half ended with a flare-up, Rhyno shoving his player over as he helped the ball over the sideline, the Roar number 10 ready for fisticuffs to jeers from the bench.

The half-time score of 0-0 was right, both teams having sniffs at goal, Sydney keeping the ball and moving it around, but as usual with little effect.

The second half was more of the same, but Sydney did seem a little more direct. Ahmet Arslan tried a lob from halfway that bobbled wide, Quispe slid to keep in the ball on the byline when he probably didn’t need to and the chance was gone in the uneven soil patches between the different-coloured grasses. Sydney then took the lead. Quintal cut in from the right on a run that Joe Lolley would love, and tried his luck, the ball seemingly taking a deflection off one of three defenders diving in to block and it flew into the net. Get in! The UB40 classic Always for Sydney was adapted to suit our new goal machine, lo lo lo lo, Ti-a-go-Quiiiin-tal. Love it! Surely the home team would take command now. Stama missed a glorious chance when played in over the top, but the offside flag saved his blushes. Campuzano flicked a header wide when perhaps he could have done better. The Brisbane no 17 Justin Vidic escaped a yellow card when he dived after evading a sliding tackle. Devenish-Meares was doing his John Burridge routine (look it up, young’uns) as Sydney went for the jugular, Campuzano stealing a ball on the right, but Steph Catley’s ex-beau was out quickly to smother at his feet.

Brisbane looked the most likely to score. Vidic fired a free kick at HDM, who tipped the ball over. A free kick from way out was tipped over again, this time our keeper scurrying back to tip the ball away after an audacious chip. The sting was taken out of the game when Devenish-Meares teased Vidic, taking his time to pick up the ball, and the final whistle was met with a big cheer, more in relief than in delight.

The players were quickly over to the Cove to soak up the adulation. The linked hands theatre-style curtain call was met with cheers, but that was it. Where normally there would be a chant shared by players and fans, where a player would take the mega and lead the home fans in song, there was nothing, our capo waving the players away. And it felt right; there was little to celebrate; we should be beating Brisbane Roar and with this team we should be doing it much better than this; the fans are somewhat scarred after a difficult week.

We exited the stadium (the second time for some of us) and headed to the Entertainment Quarter for a catch-up and a bite to eat while the Melbourne derby played out on the screens of the Winghaus, and we were back in the North West suburbs somewhere after 9:30pm, a very reasonable time thanks to the early kick off.

I’m not going to look back on today fondly. There’s nothing that irks me more than being at a pre-arranged event where no one seems to know what’s happening, and where people are doing their jobs to the letter, following protocol that makes no sense to the customers, without any pause for reflection and common sense. I don’t want to be in your fucking members section, let me out! Yes, Sydney won and it was lovely to see everyone; if my attendance at Allianz Stadium counted for two in whatever the inflated attendance was reported, I’ll be even more disappointed. Roll on the Big Blue for a proper atmosphere and I’ll be staying away from the members’ area.

Sydney FC 1 Auckland FC 1

A Tuesday night early 7pm kick off presented a raft of challenges for the Sydney FC faithful, but the lure of high-flying Auckland FC to Sydney’s suburban masterpiece, Leichhardt Oval, gave this crunch A-League fixture a sense of anticipation. The home side shoehorned in its two new luxury signings, Piero Quispe and Corey Hollman dropping out, and there was an inclusion for Alexander Popovic for the lame Marcel Tisserand. Expectation was low following Saturday’s dreadful performance, and a physical encounter saw the teams locked together until Popovic headed home deftly at the far post for what looked like a late winner. There was one final twist though, and somehow Sydney let their visitors equalise with the last attack of the game to send the fans home frustrated after a tense battle.

We were looking okay for time, driving in from the North Western suburbs after work, until we hit a crash at Gladesville bridge, but it was cleared quickly, the majority of the traffic in the opposite direction at this time of the day. After making the quick decision to drive past the Orange Grove to try the leisure centre car park, we were out of luck, a big barrier stretching across Mary Street, and we were redirected around the stadium where there was so much going on – rugby training, kids fitness, swimming lessons, and by the time we got down to Le Montage where the cars were parked all over the place it was clear that the quick decision was the wrong one. So, back to the Orange Grove where we snared a car spot and walked past a few Auckland shirts outside the pub and past the Auckland FC team bus to the back entrance, the one behind the hill that’s only open for men’s games.

The 7pm start was clearly a struggle, not many in the stadium with 15 minutes to kick off, and the hill was fairly deserted. I left Michelle in the sun to head round to the Cove, nicely shaded from the blinding sunshine, taking up a spot on the ‘Cove Heights lawn’ behind the small pack of eager fans in the benches. The acoustics here are pretty poor, so the chanting seemed quiet, although I was told from the hill that it was good. We Are Sydney greeted the players, our Cove drummer still in his work clothes, and the teams took their positions, Sydney FC having won the toin coss to shoot away from the Cove in the first half. The pace of the chant was deliberately slow, as if to teach those miscreants a lesson for singing it too quick in recent weeks. Changes tonight to the team; finally Marcel Tisserand was declared unfit after his immobile performances to be replaced by Popovic and, pedictably, Apostolos Stamatelopoulos and Ahmet Arslan coming in for their starting debuts. The stadium announcer nailed Stama’s name.

The SFC chant was up next, very early in proceedings like Saturday, the drumming so fast that smoke coming from the drum would not have been a surprise. Sydney had started well, Tiago Quintal somehow getting past his man to fire in a shot, beaten away by the Auckland keeper up the far end. The visitors were probably the better team in the first half, Harrison Devenish-Meares caught in no man’s land as a long ball held up, and he was relieved that the striker only got a little bit on the lob and was able to trot back to retrieve the ball. Alex Grant was shepherded off the ball as Auckland went close again, the referee starting to irk the home fans. This was exacerbated when a visiting player went down after his attack was foiled, Sydney set off on the counter attack but the official pulled play up, no suggestion of a head injury at all. Victor Campuzano went close after a defensive blunder, but this was a bruising game, Sydney players constantly let known that they were in for a fight in the aerial challenges.

When Stama was upended up the far end, it looked a nailed-on penalty but the referee waved it away, and as the half drew to a close, former Coastie Dan Hall fired in a searing shot that HDM tipped over, the ref annoying the away team by not giving enough time to take the corner. A half that didn’t look like producing a goal from a flowing move, it seemed like a long throw or a corner from the visitors would be the most obvious source of an agonising one-goal defeat at the break.

When night falls on Leichhardt Oval, it is magical. The sunset is stunning over the main stand, the unfolding spectacle under lights in the dark has a mystique about it that regular visitors recognise and appreciate. The noise levels tend to go up in the dark too. Sydney were asleep at the start of the second half and should have conceded, a unmarked player right in front missing the ball altogether. Sydney were on top for large parts of the second half, Stama heading just wide of the post in front of the Cove and then having a fierce near-post shot blocked. Campuzano was playing as though his time on the field was limited, bundled off the ball at one point before racing back to execute a slide tackle on precisely no one. When Rhyan Grant headed agonisingly past the post, the majorty of the stadium with their heads in teir hands, this started to look like a goalless draw.

But oh no, when Sydney had numbers up from a corner, sub Piero Quispe jinked inside and lifted a superb ball onto the head of Popovic, who deflected the ball expertly inside the post and set off an incredible celebration sequence. The Cove going mad, the subs on the field, what a moment. With maximum 10 minutes left, this was looking good, but the VAR check went on and on, a possible offside waved away eventually after an uneasy delay of maybe three minutes. The game continued at the same pace, Auckland were pressing, corners were dealt with, long throws were cleared, but when their pressure ended with a wayward shot that went way over the bar, the fans were confident of the three points. Late sub Al Hassan Toure broke from one of the desperate Auckland attacks, he had the pace, but lost any sort of composure, trying a ridiculous shot from miles out instead of maintaining possession and running into the corner. The killer blow came when a long punt up the other end was lifted in, a close-range header was saved well by HDM, and as the ball bounced, it looked as though the Auckland player had got there first to poke the ball home, the fans behind the goal going crazy. On replay, not that the big screen at the far end is big enough to really see it, it was an own goal, Jordan Courtney-Pekins having cleaed the ball right into Alex Grant’s arse and in. Disgust in the Cove, no surprise and no anger.

The only thing that could possibly save us was VAR but there was nothing wrong with the goal, and the final whistle quickly followed, after a half chance for either team to win it. The players came to applaud the Cove, who were not in an applauding mood, and the same feeling from Saturday enveloped the fans, one of apathy, acceptance and disappointment at yet another home failure.

We were let out of the same back entrance into the dark streets. The traffic coming out of Leichhardt was a shocker, the police making it hard for everyone, but we were going against it, and after a pit stop on the other side of Leichhardt, we were home by 10:30pm, as if the game had never happened.

This was a bruising game, and Sydney FC nearly came away with a surprise win. The manner of the equaliser was typical of a team out of form and lacking in confidence, and some of the football in the second half was lifted straight from Saturday’s game- urgency was lacking, the midfield squashing so high with the ball that there was no room to fashion anything of note, almost paradoxically back to the late Corica era when we’d move the ball side to side with lovely passing but no end product. Was this entertaining? I guess for the neutral it may have been. For the nailed-on die-hard Sydney FC fan this felt like a duty, like some of those early kick-offs at Kogarah in Covid times, racing to a game that was on too early and suffering through ninety minutes where a 1-0 defeat seemed like the most likely outcome. We go again on Saturday, this time back at the cabbage patch of Allianz Stadium for Pride Round, and expectations remain at an all time low. Forza Sydney FC.

Sydney FC 1 Adelaide United 2

Sydney FC’s Valentines Day love-in went off the rails on Saturday night as an insipid performance welcomed two ego-signings to the club with a disastrous home defeat at Allianz Stadium. An early Tiago Quintal strike had the sparse crowd expecting a deluge of goals for the home side, but they left the door wide open minutes later for a sloppy equaliser. The second period followed a script that the Sydney fans could see right through, and when man-of-the-match Harrison Devenish-Meares was deceived by a deflection with time running out, the major signings of Apostolos Stamatelopoulos and Ahmet Arslan were destined not to be the knights in shining armour and the cavernous stadium was left in apathetic silence. What an end to a peculiar week; now that the women’s team have their mojo back, the men are in free-fall.

Plenty going on during the day meant that our expected departure time from the North Western suburbs of Sydney grew later and later and we ended up opting to drive again, completely against tradition, and found our way through the horrendously expensive Epping tunnel, under the harbour and to the Entertainment Quarter car park in what I still call Fox Studios. No time for a Bat’n’Ball excursion, and we saw Joel King and Paddy Wood sitting on their own at Watson’s pub, so went in and joined them for a chinwag. Good to be able to talk honestly with the players, couple of lovely, approachable lads, and their meet and greet session ended with a quick photo. The crowd at the Entertainment Quarter was a peculiar mix, with massive queues forming for two concerts at two different venues, the 3D glasses being handed out for one of the gigs asking a lot of questions.

The short walk up Driver Avenue suggested a lower crowd than usual, and so it turned out, the stands almost deserted when we arrived, but plenty of people milling around the concourse. I even made a club merch purchase, the promise of money off a scarf too much to resist from the smaller, less-busy shop by Gate 1. Our group in Cove Heights was healthy, good numbers despite the culturally significant date; the state of the pitch was a topic of discussion though, a wide strip of lighter grass running from end to end, not symmetrical, and having patches of sandy dirt between the two different types of grass. If we ever build our own purpose-built venue in the burbs, we won’t have to put up with this; despite the great days when we play West Sydney here, it is just too big and we cannot justify being here, and the problems with the playing surface this year have been ridiculous. After seeing 4,000 rattling around CommBank Stadium on Friday and then this paltry crowd in an even bigger venue, is the A-League really that healthy?

As always, the teams took a long time to come out, with the flag-bearers and banner-holders in position, and once they were out, the Cove started up with We Are Sydney to bring some atmosphere to the occasion. Great to see capo Winston back in place after a long hiatus, and he was clearly revelling in it. His call out to the Cove to slow down the We Are Sydney chant in the parts where the drum is not making the beat was long overdue, the chant having become a mess recently as people try to make it quicker and quicker.

Sydney started brightly, but Adelaide were dangerous whenever they got close to Devenish-Meares’ goal, a looping deflection causing flutters as the ball dropped onto the top of the net, fans thinking it was in. Red Wig Steve looked like Ronald McDonald in the away end from a distance, the Adelaide fans choosing to be at the bottom of the away section. Fifteen minutes in and Sydney took the lead. There didn’t seem too much on when Paul Okon-Engstler approached goal, but the defensive tackle sent the ball out to Quintal, who controlled and fired the ball home from a tight angle. It was up the far end, we couldn’t really see what happened, but on the replay we could see that he had found the small window between the keeper’s legs, the ball bouncing through into the net behind. One-nil, get in, surely we’d be treated to a hatful of goals now.

Alas, no. No sooner had we scored than Adelaide were level, and what a shoddy goal it was. The zonal-marking defence was nowhere to be seen as a cross from the right was played in and two Adelaide players were free, Ryan Kitto having a simple task of turning the ball home for 1-1. That was as loose a defensive moment as we’ve seen recently, and Devenish-Meares had no chance.

Marcel Tisserand had been learning a new passing style in traning all week, and he was trying it out for the first time tonight. On three separate occasions he tried to play a flat pinging ball through the middle and three times he coughed up possession with these wayward, over-engineered and unnecessary passes. Not good enough – we expect so much better. Corey Hollman was industrious and Okon-Engstler was classy, but couldn’t make anything happen. Sydney’s lack of invention was exposed when Rhyan Grant was caught wondering what to do with the ball and was dispossessed, the Sky Blues surviving the break, but it was perhaps a taste of what was to come. Piero Quispe stubbed one wide, Tisserand knocked a header onto the bar, and Victor Campuzano tried to make the run from the left on more than one occasion, but the ball wouldn’t come his way.

A goal a-piece at the break was about right, Adelaide having fashioned some chances too, and the feeling was that this game was on a knife-edge and we could well be looking at a defeat if the predicted double-substitution didn’t have the right impact. The half-time kiss cam was pretty funny, a Colplay-esque couple refusing to kiss and instead sharing a hug out of embarrassment.

Devenish-Meares made a great full-length save up the far end as Adelaide looked to break ealy in the second half. Sydney did make the totally predictable double sub on the hour, Campuzano must be wondering why he signed after seeing these two new players transferred in, and with Hollman making way, it was attack attack from the home side. Stamatelopoulos almost headed in with his first touch, Arslan had a curling effort pushed away, Rhyno appeared from nowhere to stab wide from right in front – the desired effect had be made, surely Sydney would score soon.

There was an extended We All Follow Sydney from the Cove, there were two balls on the field at one point, the referee coosing to boot one of them out and getting in the way of play. Quintal was a victim of the two-tone turf, the ball bobbling up, but his close control in the area was fantastic, teasing and turning but nothing on the end of it. Stamatelopoulos let the ball run across him fo a shot, but the ball lifted off the seam of the two grasses and his shot was wild, the new striker turning to look at the grass in disgust. Quispe remained on the field but was looking a spent force, Lolley went off for Akol Akon to huge applause, the crowd remembering his exploits against the Wanderers here. Rhys Youlley came on and gave the ball away with his first touch, but to be fair he did track back and win the ball back. All the while Adelaide threatened, Devenish-Meares was superb, and the game was ready to go either way.

Just as Sydney were thinking there was no way through, Adelaide broke upfield, as they had done at will in the second half. This time Luka Jovanovic seemed to have let the chance pass by, but he advanced on Tisserand, took a step inside and fired on goal. Devenish-Meares dived and the ball lifted up and through his hands for the softest of goals with three minutes left. The benefit of the big screen allowed us to see an unfortunate deflection off Tisserand that changed the trajectory of the ball and we were behind. Fans started to make their way to the exits. It was a tough watch. The lack of urgency in the remaining five or six minutes of play was striking though, the lack of a plan B was there for all to see, and the storming finish of years gone by with the Jaidan Kucharski or Paddy Wood energy was completely missing. In the end, it was an incredibly insipid finish to the game from the Sky Blues, so much so that the final whistle was met with total apathy and the odd boo from the home fans and only two players came to applaud the Cove. To be honest, the Cove weren’t interested, and most fans were already heading for the exits, shaking their heads after a totally predictable second-half turn of events.

We headed out back towards the car park, past more live music, and made it out before all the entertainment ended at Moore Park. A quick run through to drop Carla in Leichhardt and then an easy run along Victoria Road and we were home well before 11pm.

Time will tell whether or not this week has been pivotal in Sydney FC’s recent history. Has the remaining hierarchy at the club made a massive faux-pas, bringing in two quality players to disrupt our over-performing team without a care for the rest of the squad? What must Campuzano and Quispe be thinking as two bigger, stronger players come in and limit their game time, and what about the fringe players who are going to be even more fringe than before? I fear that these are ego signings; we didn’t need them, and the good work that has been done to get us into a strong position, however fortunate, is now forgotten. See you all at Leichhardt Oval on Tuesday for what will be the turning point in our season. Forza Sydney FC!