Sydney have produced an impressive display to record a 3-1 win over Melbourne Heart in the National Youth League on Saturday.
Sydney have produced an impressive display to record a 3-1 win over Melbourne Heart in the National Youth League on Saturday.
The impressive Blake Powell netted a brace for the victors, while Joel Chianese was also on the scoresheet at John Cain Memorial Park.
Heart substitute Phil Petreski had briefly levelled proceedings with a wonderful volley, but Ian Crook’s side ran out convincing winners.
Heart, who came into the clash in second spot, were rusty after the mid-season break, but quickly got into the encounter and enjoyed the better of the chances in the first half.
Stipo Andrijasevic created the first of the opportunities, beating two men with a dazzling run before passing across the face of goal, but senior prospect Maycon failed to get enough contact on the delivery.
Dusan Bosnjak sliced a powerful drive not far wide of Ryan Norval’s top left-hand corner on 20 minutes, before fellow midfielder Brodie Patterson also misdirected a shot.
Brazilian Maycon was lively and scuffed a rebound wide after Norval had been forced to parry Craig Goodwin’s powerful shot.
Without top-scorer Mitchell Mallia, who is in line for a senior call-up, Sydney had Powell and Chianese miss good chances.
Andrijasevic went agonisingly close to putting the hosts ahead on the half-hour, but he saw his first-time strike go inches wide after Bosnjak burst into the area and squared him a pass.
The visitors started the second half brightly, and Powell had a well-struck volley cleared off the line by Heart defender Kristian Konstantinidis.
But Powell would get the opener in the 49th minute, striking on the turn past Thomas Dunn after a cross from Chianese.
Substitute Petreski found an equaliser with a stunning strike barely six minutes after coming on.
The midfielder controlled a ball outside the area after a corner, hitting a stunning half-volley that left Norval helpless.
Powell went close to restoring his team’s advantage in the 72nd minute when he struck the post, but Sydney would regain the lead moments later.
Joe Gibbs played Chianese through, and the attacker struck his fourth goal of the campaign with a left-foot shot into the roof of Dunn’s net.
Powell squandered two glorious chances to seal it before he finally did so, taking on two players and poking into the bottom corner to cap off a fine display.
Melbourne Heart 1 (Petreski 67)
Sydney FC 3 (Powell 49, 90, Chianese 73)
