Andrew Redmayne was the penalty shootout hero for Hyundai A-League 2019 Champions Sydney FC, who beat Perth Glory 4-1 on penalties to win Sunday’s Grand Final.
Redmayne made two shootout saves – from Perth’s Andy Keogh and Brendon Santalab – after a tense, scoreless 120 minutes, leaving Reza Ghoochannejhad to dispatch the winning penalty for Steve Corica’s men.
It is the third time the Sky Blues have beaten Premiers Perth this season, and is Sydney’s fourth Grand Final win.
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A Grand Final battle of attrition in WA was set in stone early on, and neither side could land an early blow despite Glory threatening via the aerial route, which saw Sky Blues goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne tip Dino Djulbic’s header over the bar.
Sydney worked the best opening of the encounter midway through the first half and had the ball in the net when Adam Le Fondre tucked Michael Zullo’s centre past Perth shot stopper Liam Reddy after a near-post dart – only for the offside flag to rescue the hosts, much to the delight of the boisterous home crowd.
Another great Redmayne save kept another Glory header out following the interval, this time from Diego Castro, who forced the Sydney custodian into a smart reflex stop after the Perth midfielder arrived unmarked at the near post.
Popovic and Corica introduced attacking spark from the bench in the respective forms of Andy Keogh and Reza Ghoochannejhad, but neither Perth’s top scorer nor Sydney’s Iranian attacker could break the deadlock in open play.
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