Sydney FC striker Luke Ivanovic scored a treble to inspire a 5-3 win over Central Coast Mariners and move the Young Sky Blues outright top of the Conference B ladder.
Ivanovic starred in an eight-goal thriller that saw the teenager cancel out first half strikes from Abraham Majok and Alou Kuol.
Daniel Hall put the Mariners 3-2 up on the stroke of half time but Ivanovic pounced again shy of the hour mark to restore parity.
Patrick Flottmann and Jordi Swibel completed the turnaround with efforts in the 79th and 83rd minutes respectively. The result has Sydney three points and a superior goal difference over second-placed Mariners with two rounds remaining.
Sydney have the derby against Western Sydney Wanderers next up on January 18, while Mariners play the Wanderers on January 4.
Feature image: Jaime Castaneda (@jamcas50)
Victory go top of Conference B
Melbourne Victory leapfrogged Brisbane Roar top the summit in Conference A after a come from behind 3-1 win over the Queenslanders on Sunday.
A Luis Lawrie-Lattanzio double either side of Birkan Kirdar’s effort was enough to secure Victory the three points after Jai Ingham gave Roar an early lead.
“It’s important they recognise that performing and winning today brings them first spot and that pressure is a good pressure for youth players to understand to know what it feels like,” Victory boss Gareth Naven told the club’s official website.
Victory face Melbourne City next up on January 12.
A couple of nice goals from our #YLeague win over Brisbane on the weekend! #MVFC #OurVictory pic.twitter.com/TVZoogeuiZ
— Melbourne Victory (@gomvfc) December 31, 2019
Young Reds storm home to beat Perth
Adelaide United remain in third place in Conference A after fighting back to beat Perth Glory 4-2 last Saturday morning.
Perth’s Ciaran Bramwell had put the visitors up 2-1 after Nathan Konstandopoulos opened the scoring for Adelaide, but three unanswered goals from Taras Gomulka, Daniele Bressan, and Massimo Falco saw the Young Reds storm home.
Adelaide are up against Melbourne City next up on January 5.
FT | A strong finish to the second-half sees the Young Reds collect their third win of the campaign! ? #ADLvPER #YLeague pic.twitter.com/fBNwNfCQ1M
— Adelaide United (@AdelaideUnited) December 28, 2019
*POSTPONED: Canberra United v Western Sydney Wanderers
