Contest full of niggle with shootout settling score
JUST when you thought their chance had passed, they went and saved the best till last.
Sydney FC are the ALeague champions, crowned in the most nerve- racking of circumstances after beating Melbourne Victory on penalties.
The fact it was Milos Ninkovic who struck home the win- ning spotkick added the perfect ending to the script he has written all season.
At the end, the players were almost too exhausted to celebrate, every sinew strained, but the emotion was crystallised joy for them and their supporters.
The fact that it was possibly their least convincing performance of the season will matter not a jot as the cel- ebrations go on for days. But in the end natural justice dictated that the Sky Blues had to be the winners of the season, so great has been their domination of the past seven months.
It was the second time they have beaten their foes from the Bleak City on penalties, and expunged the memory of losing the grand final against them two years ago.
From the first seconds, the game became a series of angry confrontations, five yellow cards being shown inside the first 44 minutes.
Sydney played passes they hadn’t all season, forcing Alex Brosque and Bobo to compete for headers with the steepling figures of Nick Ansell and James Donachie in the Victory defence.
Sydney’s bench has been a potent force in these games this season, with David Carney’s double defeating Victory in November and Bernie Ibini winning the reverse contest at Etihad.
The great irony is that Carney would not have been on the pitch had Ibini not pulled a hamstring in the dying seconds of the semi- final, yet his involvement in the equaliser was pivotal.