Sydney FC’s hopes have taken a blow following a surprise 3-1 loss to Newcastle in an entertaining National Youth League encounter at the SFS on Sunday.
Sydney FC’s hopes have taken a blow following a surprise 3-1 loss to Newcastle in an entertaining National Youth League encounter at the SFS on Sunday.
The fifth-placed Sky Blues had the chance to move up to equal second spot with a victory over the Jets but were sunk by two second-half goals.
Newcastle’s three goals were provided by Mario Simic, Jason Naidovski and an Antony Golec (own goal), with Matthew Jurman scoring for the hosts.
The win lifts the Jets clear of the competition’s lower reaches, giving hope of a late season revival.
The day started disastrously for Sydney FC, with Tim McGowan rolling his ankle in the warm-up and being ruled out of the match.
Mitchell Prentice was called in at the last minute in a late change that understandably unsettled the home side.
Just 57 seconds in, the Sky Blues were down a goal after Simic poked a shot past goalkeeper Nenad Vekic at the far post from the edge of the six yard box.
The goal belonged to some beautiful lead-up work from William Angel, who took on and beat Mitchell Speer before sending a left-foot cross in from the by-line for Simic to take aim.
Sydney struggled to get into the game in the oppressive conditions but started to lift after the referee called for a drinks break at the 24-minute mark.
Newcastle’s Jesse Pinto was booked for a crude challenge on Sydney skipper Golec and the ensuing free kick into the box caused chaos for the Jets defence.
Goalkeeper Robbie Kolak and his defenders failed to communicate, the No.1’s weak punch falling at the feet of Jurman who calmly rolled the ball into the back of the net at the 32-minute mark.
Perhaps lulled into a false sense of security after pulling a goal back, the Sky Blues almost conceded straight away.
Naidovski laid on a ball for Mirjan Pavlovic to fire off a shot which was parried by Vekic into Naidovski’s path.
Naidovski should have buried the rebound from close range but Vekic did wonderfully well to block the second attempt.
Chris Payne could have given Sydney the lead seconds before half-time but his on-target volley was tipped over by Kolac to leave the teams locked 1-1 at the break.
Tem minutes into the second half the visitors regained the lead.
Lining up a free kick on the edge of the box, Naidovski curled his shot low past a poorly constructed Sydney wall to beat the unsighted Vekic inside his right post.
Naidovski didn’t score the third goal but contributed largely to it, his piercing run into the Sydney box forcing Golec to intervene, only to turn the ball into his own net on 70 minutes.
Two goals down in energy-sapping conditions, the Sky Blues were a spent force and never looked like recovering as Newcastle rounded out a well-deserved win.
Sydney FC 1 (Jurman 32)
Newcastle 3 (Simic 1, Naidovski 55, Golec 70og)
