Report: Sydney 2-1 Victory

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Melbourne Victory suffered a 2-1 loss to Sydney FC at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday night.

Summary

Sydney FC started the better of the two sides, with Matthew Acton forced into action early to tip an Adam Le Fondre shot onto the crossbar.

Not long after, Brandon O’Neill opened the scoring with an effort from outside the box in just the sixth minute.

Just 10 minutes later, a superb Keisuke Honda ball found Kosta Barbarouses, who chipped it over Andrew Redmayne to level the contest at 1-1.

Sydney FC continued to dominate possession in the latter stages of the first half, with Acton being called on again to deny Le Fondre in the 35th minute.

Ola Toivonen almost got in the 42nd minute with a cross into the six-yard area, however Rhyan Grant came across to stifle the opportunity.

James Donachie shut down a Sydney FC chance on the stroke of half time to ensure both sides went into the break equal.

The second half started as the first half ended, with Sydney applying pressure to the Victory defence, but the Sky Blues couldn’t manage to break through.

Brandon O’Neill hit another long-range shot on-target in the 73rd minute, but Acton was up to the task and turned it away.

Terry Antonis was helped off the ground and replaced by Elvis Kambsoba in the 75th minute, after he landed awkwardly on the edge of the concealed cricket wicket.

Victory came close to taking the lead minutes later, when an Ola Toivonen shot glanced across the face of goal.

The away side continued to push, with Elvis Kamsoba repeating the effort when he shot just wide of the target in the 86th minute.

Deep into injury time, Milos Ninkovic made the most of a Victory deflection from a Siem de Jong cross to put Sydney FC up 2-1 and claim the 3 points.

Key Moment

Result

Hyundai A-League 2018/19 Round 24
Sydney FC 2
(O’Neill 6’, Ninkovic 93’)
Melbourne Victory 1 (Barbarouses 16’)

Sydney FC: Redmayne (gk); Zullo, Calver, Wilkinson, Grant; O’Neill, Brillante; Ninkovic, Caceres (de Jong 65’); Brosque (c) (Ghoochannejhad 64’), Le Fondre (Retre 96’).

Melbourne Victory: Acton (gk); Broxham, Niedermeier, Donachie, Deng (Brown 88’); Valeri (c); Antonis (Kamsoba 78’), Troisi, Honda; Barbarouses (Hope 91’), Toivonen.

Yellow Cards: Neidermeier 41’, Calver 75’
Red Cards: Nil
Attendance: 14,155
Venue: Sydney Cricket Ground

Next Up

Melbourne Victory will face Guangzhou Evergrande in the AFC Champions League on Wednesday, April 10 at 10pm. In the A-League, Melbourne Victory return home to AAMI Park to take on the Central Coast Mariners next Sunday, April 14 at 5pm.