Error can’t stop Blues
NOT even the VAR could deny Sydney FC a fourth ALeague title, winning on penalties to ensure this year’s reign is not purple but sky blue.
When Reza drove home the winning spotkick, a shootout proving necessary to separate the two sides, it was justice for Sydney, who should have won by a single goal from Adam Le Fondre.
For the second year in a row the grand final was dominated by the VAR and for the second year in a row the headlines are all about officials, not players.
Le Fondre’s first-half goal was disallowed for off-side but the VAR should have intervened to overturn that.
In the end they still got there, via an exhausting period of extra time and a shootout in which Andrew Redmayne saved two of Perth’s penalties.
Steve Corica becomes a champion coach in his first year, having lifted the trophy as captain in 2010, but Tony Popovic’s streak of final losses stands at a heartbreaking four.
The moment that so infuriated Sydney came a minute before the half-hour.
The Sky Blues believed they had opened the scoring thanks to a masterful reverse pass from Brosque, a low cross from Michael Zullo and a deft nearpost finish from Le Fondre.