Sydney’s crowning glory
EVEN with the lottery of penalties, any other result would have been a travesty.
Sydney FC, the best team this season by a country mile, are A- League champions after they beat Melbourne Victory in front of over 40,000 fans at Allianz Stadium.
Appropriately, it was Milos Ninkovic who sealed Sydney’s triumph with his spot- kick.
It was an epic battle, a worthy spectacle, with the teams unable to be separated after 120 gruelling minutes.
Rhyan Grant earlier celled Besart Berisha’s and with the score 1- 1, game went into extra time. cangoal the
James Troisi came within inches of winning it for Victory when his volley in the second period of extra time crashed into the woodwork, but there was still no separating the two sides and so the grand final was decided by penalties.
The opening 20 minutes were always going to be crucial and Victory asserted them- selves during it. Carl Valeri and Leigh Broxham bossed the midfield, with Josh Brillante and Brandon O’Neill struggling to get a grip on the game for Sydney.
Ninkovic was, unsurprisingi ly, targeted by Victory, with the Serbian star prevented from pulling the strings.
It was fierce and feisty early on – on the pitch and off it – but Sydney were made to pay for not capitalising on a brief, b bright spell.
Lawrence Thomas thwarted Michael Zullo’s attempt in the 16th minute, then a lastditch clearance from Daniel Georgievksi kept the scores level, but barely two minutes later Victory had their lead.
Berisha, the man for the big occasion, went on a solo run and space opened to take a shot from just inside the box.
It was a clinical finish – his seventh consecutive finals series goal – and Danny Vukovic ( left) could do nothing to stop it. It was just the 13th goal Sydney had conceded all season.
The game it erupted in the 34th minute, when Ninkovic reacted to a tackle from Broxham. Just about every player on the field got involved in the melee that followed, with Ninkovic, James Troisi and Filip Holosko booked.
The break couldn’t come fast enough for Sydney, who needed the time to compose.
But the beginning of the second half was still a struggle and Sydney coach Graham Arnold responded by making an early substitution, bringing David Carney on for Holosko. It would be a telling one.
The breakthrough finally came in the 69th minute when Carney’s initial shot hit the post, the ball bounced back and Grant stabbed it home with his right foot.