Sydney FC fall prey to Brisbane’s Mighty Roar

By: Michael Turner | September 28th, 2009

Sydney FC have failed to claim top spot on the A-League ladder, after going down to Brisbane at Suncorp on Sunday. Sergio van Dijk - Courtesy of BrisbaneRoar.com Sydney’s golden opportunity to claim top spot in the A-League was ruined, after a late Sergio vs Dijk goal sealed it for the home side. The game began at a lively pace, with the first on target chance falling for Mark Bridge from an acute angle outside the box, however Brisbane returned the favour through Reinaldo, who couldn’t convert his run, shooting straight at Clint Bolton. Sydney then began to attack, with Brendan Gan’s shot rolling just past Reddy’s right post, before Kisel shot straight at Reddy on the 26th minute. Bridge blasted his golden opportunity over the bar on 28 minutes. Brosque was then denied twice by Liam Reddy within a couple of minutes. Malcomn came close for the Roar in the closing minutes through a header, as did Mark Bridge, however a stalemate at the halfway stage.

Brisbane had a handball claim turned down at the restart, straight before Roar found the back of the net before play was brought back for a prior offence. On Sydney’s side of things, Mark Bridge headed just over the bar on 56 minutes. McCloughan forced a good save from Bolton, which left him slightly dazed after he hit the bar himself. A number of nail biting chances were forced for both sides, before Van Dijk scored the winner for the Roar. Van Dijk’s glancing header found the inside netting, to the delight of Frank Farina and Liam Reddy, who were celebrating their 150th game.

Sydney FC would have been kicking at each other’s heels, after not being able to find the winner here, and next week, may finally be able to take the top of the table against Central Coast.

At the top, Sydney, Gold Coast and Perth are all tied at the top with 13 points, followed by Melbourne, Brisbane and Central Coast at 12, which leaves a real bottleneck at the top of the Hyundai A-League ladder. Lets hope Sydney can clean themselves up and finally start to win some matches.

Brisbane Roar 1 (Sergio van Dijk 86’)
Sydney FC 0

Brisbane Roar: 1. Liam Reddy (gk), 4. Craig Moore (c), 5. Josh McCloughan, 6. David Dodd, 9. Sergio van Dijk, 10. Charlie Miller, 11. Reinaldo, 13. Henrique, 16. Bob Malcolm, 18. Danny Tiatto (19. Isaka Cernak 81’), 27. Ivan Franjic.

Unused substitutes: 20. Griffin McMaster (gk), 12. Matt Mundy, 23. Tim Smits.

Yellow cards: Craig Moore 43’, David Dodd 70’, Charlie Miller 74’.

Red cards: nil.

Sydney FC: 1. Clint Bolton (gk), 2.Sebastian Ryall, 4. Simon Colosimo, 6. Karol Kisel, 7. Brendan Gan, 8. Stuart Musialik, 10. Steve Corica (c) (18. Adam Casey 80’), 12. Shannon Cole (16. Christopher Payne 87’), 14. Alex Brosque, 19. Mark Bridge, 22. Sung-Hwan Byun.

Unused substitutes: 20. Ivan Necevski (gk), 13. Antony Golec.

Yellow cards: Brendan Gan 39’, Shannon Cole 76’, Sebastian Ryall 83’.

Red cards: nil.

Referee: Strebre Delovski.

Crowd: 7677 at Suncorp Stadium.

(Match Stats by Ahmed )

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