Hyundai A-League Season 3

10 Man Sydney Down to Melbourne
By Stephen Webb

A-League 2007/2008 - Round 7
7pm, Saturday 6 October 2007
at Sydney Football Stadium


Sydney FC 0
lost to
Melbourne Victory FC 1
(Danny Allsopp 82')


(Red Card occasion - for BOTN by Stephen Webb)

Sydney FC can draw heart from their performance against Melbourne Victory on Saturday night, despite losing one-nil to an 81st minute goal from Daniel Allsopp

Losing powerhouse veteran Steve Corica, red-carded in the 25th minute, Sydney battled on valiantly, almost scoring through an Alex Brosque free kick in the 79th minute.

Referee Mark Shield, escorted from the field by police at the end of game under a barrage of bottles from angry fans, played his part in an ugly game of football, highlighted by dour defence from both sides.

For much of the second half Sydney's defence was so strong that Melbourne, even with superior numbers, were reduced to taking long shots.

And for most of the game neither side looked like scoring.

It was a shame there had been a change in the weather: it got cold and There'd been some rain. But there was a boisterous Melbourne contingent to boost crowd numbers - almost as many as the Bogon moths.

Tony Popovic gave Kevin Muscat a hug before the kick off. Sweet.

Adam Casey was in the action for Sydney early and in the fifth minute Melbourne's Leandro received a good ball on the right, beat a defender and shot low where Clint Bolton saved.

A minute later Alex Brosque almost made good head contact on a cross from the right corner.

Sydney won a corner, Ruben Zadkovich got a yellow card and Juninho and Iain Fyfe tried a couple of one-twos but Fyfe wasn't ready to carry on with it.

Then the same problem for Melbourne: Muscat played a good ball into the right corner but Leandro didn't read it, whereupon Muscat gave him a brief lecture on tactics.

Grant Brebner looked impressive. And so did his opposite number, Zadkovich.

Muscat won a yellow card and Popovic won a series of headers.

Every Juninho touch was good. Corica hadn't yet found his touch.

Corica tried to squeeze a shot inside Melbourne's right post, but it was soft effort, easy for Michael Theoklitos.

Daniel Allsopp crossed from the right but no Melbourne players were in the box for him. Then Brebner again looked impressive, settling things down in the middle of the park.

In the 23rd minute Juninho pulled the ball back from the Melbourne goal line but Theoklitos got down to save the cross.

Zadkovich made a run - reminiscent of a bloke named Carney but without a Carney-like shot at the end.

Then Corica got his red card and the game was killed off.

Muscat knocked over Brosque and the crowd was further riled.

Mark Milligan made a brave clearance, Joseph Keenan taking him out while challenging for a cross from the right.

Now Melbourne started to get the rhythm that the people behind me had been saying was lacking.

Zadkovich caused some trouble for Melbourne down the left and Brebner put in a neat lob from the right of the pitch to the left side of Sydney's penalty area.

Brosque made a run for Juninho but, really, few in the Sydney side were anticipating the Brazilian's delivery. Which could lead one to wonder if Sydney would look better if Juninho dumbed it down a bit.

Brebner's yellow was for a foul in Juninho. Milligan wasted the free kick.

A Terry McFlynn error put Sydney under pressure but Popovic saved the day.

Muscat brought down Brosque, referee Mark Shield told Sydney coach Branko Culina to tone it down, and Zadkovich gave Muscat something to think about.

Mark Rudan, under pressure from Allsopp, made a cool head back to Bolton.

Brebner hit a great ball into the Sydney penalty area for Allsopp but Popovic cleared.

Leandro squared for Matthew Kemp who hit a sloppy shot wide to the left of goal.

Sydney were still in the game, despite being a man down. Zadkovich was playing the best I'd seen of him.

Early in the second half Juninho's touch let him down for the first time, chasing a ball from Brosque.

McFlynn sent Casey away down the right. Casey wasted his cross towards Juninho.

McFlynn and Milligan combined well, Milligan played to Brosque on the right, Brosque looked for Juninho but Brebner read the play.

Sydney's backline was still holding well against the Melbourne onslaught. Rudan blocked a shot by Allsopp and Casey outran Muscat but his high cross for Brosque went too close to Theoklitos.

Juninho on a run was blocked by Muscat and Popovic was good taking on Leandro at the Sydney goal line.

Brebner had a crack at goal but McFlynn threw his body in the way. Sydney had a good string of passes until McFlynn played too long for Casey.

Melbourne had a couple of shots wide from distance.

In the 60th minute Juninho hit a beautiful ball for Zadkovich, who overran it slightly but came close to looking very good.

Milligan made a great saving tackle on Allsopp, who was then stopped thanks to a sliding clearance by Rudan.

Then Rudan knocked down Keenan ten metres outside the Sydney penalty area. Juninho earned his yellow card for protesting about Muscat rolling the ball forward.

Juninho was hurt in a tackle. The free kick went to Rudan who headed wide.

And Rudan was soon busy again winning a goal kick defending against Adrian Caceres, who had come on for Carlos Hernandez.

Melbourne's long balls were still going astray and, for Sydney, Brosque's situation seemed ever more hopeless, alone at the front against Steve Pantelidis and Rodrigo Vargas.

Patrick replaced Juninho, and Sydney were letting Caceres have space on the left, Rudan shutting him down when he ventured toward goal.

Keenan beat Casey and put in a good cross from the left but Bolton held.

Melbourne replaced Keenan with Kaz Patafta and Sydney started slowing things down.

Rudan robbed Caceres and Brosque was fouled six metres outside the Melbourne penalty area. Brosque's free kick seemed to glance off the right post.

Rudan again robbed Caceres but minutes later Caceres crossed. Allsopp was on the end, arriving unmarked at the right corner of the goal box to dash Sydney's hopes of a draw.

Sydney had to attack again. Brosque gave Zadkovich a good feed into the left side of the Melbourne penalty area.

McFlynn made way for a third striker - Brendon Santalab - and Ufuk Talay, a replacement for Casey, hit a great swinging cross, headed clear by the Melbourne defence.

The yellow cards kept coming, Sydney kept coming, but Melbourne had done enough.

To Sydney's credit they seldom looked to be playing for a draw.

Juninho, despite heavy physical attention from Melbourne, was excellent while on the pitch - if only his team mates knew how to play to his expectations.

Melbourne were solid but had little flair and any hint of inventiveness was rubbed out by Sydney's defence.

In addition to the back four, many of the Sydney players shone. Casey and Brosque up front worked hard and Zadkovich had one of his best games.

Grant Brebner made some significant contributions to Melbourne's play, particularly in the first half.

Culina was fined for some of his comments about the refereeing but he said he was proud of his team's character. "We wanted to win the game, even with ten men".

He said some of the Sydney performances were brilliant, but Melbourne were a very good side and Sydney couldn't afford to play them a player short.

He said his team put in a gutsy, brave performance, putting on more strikers when Melbourne were putting on more defenders.

He said he felt sorry that 18,000 people couldn't see a real contest between two of the better sides in the competition

Melbourne coach Ernie Merrick said he felt his team played good football, keeping good possession. Final passes were astray but Melbourne controlled the midfield, he said.


A-League 2007/2008 - Round 7
7pm, Saturday 6 October 2007
at Sydney Football Stadium

Sydney FC 0
lost to
Melbourne Victory FC 1
(Danny Allsopp 82')

Disclaimer: The content of this report is the responsibility of the writer. Stats are either as recorded by the writer at the game, or as supplied by FFA, or a mixture - no responsibility can be taken for their compete accuracy although we do strive for that. FFA has not this season accredited any Photographers for BOTN, so any photos used here, unless attributed, are as supplied by FFA and used by permission.

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