Sydney FC has continued its perfect start to its pre-season campaign with a hard-fought 2-0 victory over Bankstown City Lions at Jenson Oval on Wednesday night.
Close to 2,500 people braved the cold and wet conditions and they were rewarded 18 minutes into the match when Chris Payne opened the scoring for the Sky Blues.
New signing Karol Kisel created the goal for the teenage striker after he threaded a perfect ball to Brendan Gan who in turn squared it for Payne to score from close range.
Bankstown took the game up to its opponents but couldn’t find the back of the net and the Sky Blues sealed the match 10 minutes into the second half when Alex Brosque was on hand to tap in after Terry McFlynn’s initial shot was only parried by the goalkeeper.
Sydney now has two wins from two starts and will take on the Sydney Tigers at Leichardt next Wednesday night.
Meanwhile, Melbourne Victory has gone down 3-1 to a Victorian Premier League side at Mansion Stadium.
A brace from Green Gully’s Joel Nikolic and a late Osagie Ederaro penalty put the result beyond doubt after Tom Pondeljak had combined with Brazilian striker Ney Fabiano to give Melbourne Victory an early lead.
Nikolic found a way past Melbourne Victory goalkeeper Glen Moss, who made a number of notable saves throughout the match, on either side of half-time, while Ederaro converted a well-taken penalty in front of approximately 1000 fans.
Melbourne Victory will meet Chinese Super League sides Guangzhou Pharmaceutical and Tianjin Tedanow on a two-match tour of China in June.
