Another Grand Final, but same story for Sydney FC after their 2-1 loss to Melbourne Victory on Sunday.
Revenge was on the mind of Sydney, who lost last season’s A-League Women decider to Victory.
Sydney – the reigning Premiers – dominated for large periods but fell short again in their fifth consecutive Grand Final appearance.
The Sky Blues, who were the benchmark in the regular season, only have one Championship (2019) to show for their five straight Grand Final matches, but they are remaining defiant.
“There’s not much more we can do better than what did this season, apart from win the Grand Final,” Sydney captain Nat Tobin told Network 10 post-game.
“Ultimately that will be the final goal. It was nice to win the Premiership but we need this Championship.”
“This team will pretty much remain the same. Everyone loves it here. No one will relocate anywhere else. We will keep building,” Tobin said.
Sydney fell 2-0 behind early in the second half, trailing to Amy Jackson and Catherine Zimmerman at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium.
Cortnee Vine responded immediately to give Sydney hope with 24 minutes remaining.
However, the Sky Blues were left to rue what could’ve been after a dominant 45 minutes, which saw Sydney somehow deadlocked at 0-0 at half-time.
Victory goalkeeper Casey Dumont thwarted Sydney in a player-of-the-match performance.
“Disappointing,” Tobin said as she reflected on the match. “I had a really good feeling about today. I remained calm and the team remained calm the whole time.
“We had that experience from the Semi-Final [extra-time win over Melbourne City], where we knew we could come back from 2-0 down.
“When Cortnee scored that first goal, I thought here we go. But I guess it just wasn’t meant to be on the day. It’s disappointing two years in a row but maybe fourth time lucky.”
Victory went from sneaking into the top four on goal difference, to back-to-back Liberty A-League crowns.
Jeff Hopkins’ Victory trumped Adelaide United, Melbourne City and Sydney en route to glory, after the Skye Blues had the week off as reward for their Semi-Final success.
“They had momentum in the lead up but so did we. We came off a Premiership win. I had a really good feeling and I thought we could do it today,” Tobin added.
“They put their chances today. They didn’t have many but the ones they had, they put them away. We had so many more but didn’t put them away.”
