Melbourne Victory have stunned Sydney FC with three late goals to steal a thrilling 3-2 win in a pulsating encounter at Allianz Stadium.
Melbourne Victory have stunned Sydney FC with three late goals to steal a thrilling 3-2 win in a pulsating encounter at Allianz Stadium.
The Sky Blues looked to have buried the memories of last week’s 7-2 loss to Central Coast when they went ahead 2-0 just after half-time – but then inexplicably fell apart at the back-end of the game.
Victory replacement Andrew Nabbout (78th and 91st minute) and striker Archie Thompson (86m) turned the game on its ear with late goals.
Victory were good value for the win, dominating possession and taking the game to Sydney all night.
But there will be plenty of questions asked of Crook’s men after they let slip a match they appeared to have in their keeping.
Yairo Yau grabbed Sydney’s opener on 14 minutes before defender Pascal Bosschaart broke a 16-year drought with his first professional goal three minutes after the break.
But Nabbout changed the course of the match 12 minutes from time, cutting back inside from the right and letting fly with an unstoppable left-foot drive from outside the box.
Thompson popped up for his eighth career goal against Sydney with four minutes left before Nabbout put Victory in front for the first time with a headed goal during injury time.
With Bosschaart, Alessandro Del Piero and Fabio all back from injury, Sydney had looked a more cohesive unit.
Yau’s goal was engineered by Del Piero and laid on by impressive youngster Blake Powell.
The Italian’s first-time ball put Powell into space in the box and his neat pass with the outside of his right foot fell perfectly in Yau’s path.
The Panamanian international swept the ball home for his second goal in as many weeks.
Victory didn’t let the goal set them back on their heels, running Sydney ragged at times with their quick transition out of defence and rapid ball movement.
It was frenetic football at its best, only pausing momentarily following a sickening head clash between Seb Ryall and Adrian Leijer midway through the half.
Sydney survived the onslaught and just three minutes after the interval doubled their lead.
A back post cross was nodded back to Ryall who attempted an elaborate overhead kick that flew in the air, but only as far as Bosschaart’s left foot.
The Dutchman left fly with the sweetest volley of his life to beat Nathan Coe, racing towards The Cove for an emotional celebration.
Del Piero exited the game on 65 minutes and slowly the hosts crumbled.
Victory kept pouring forward and found a way back via Nabbout’s first goal.
The comeback was now in full swing, Thompson and Nabbout completing the heist and adding to Sydney’s miserable week.
Bet365.com Man of the Match: Pascal Bosschaart: The bug Dutchman looked broken by the end fo the game but that didn’t alter his massive contribution to Sydney on his return from injury.
Sydney FC 2 (Yau 14, Bosschaart 48)
Melbourne Victory3 (Nabbout 78, 91, Thompson 86)
Crowd: 21,531 @Allianz Stadium
