A 1-0 second-leg win wasn’t enough for Sydney FC as Lion City Sailors eliminated the Sky Blues from the AFC Champions League Two with a 2-1 aggregate triumph in the semi-finals of the continental tournament.
The Sky Blues lost the first leg 2-0 but hosted the return leg at Allianz Stadium on Wednesday; in need of a two-goal swing to force extra-time, or a turnaround of three goals or more to win outright, Sydney FC left their run too late.
An 85th-minute Joe Lolley strike set up a grandstand finish but Lion City held on to the full-time whistle with a 2-1 aggregate lead intact.
Dubbed “the biggest game in the club’s history” by Sydney FC CEO Mark Aubrey this week, Sydney were to host the ACL Two Final had they emerged victorious from the two-legged Semi-Final, but instead will be forced to watch on as Lion City take on Sharjah FC in the tournament decider.
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Lolley’s 85th-minute strike was almost the catalyst for a late comeback from the Sky Blues, who had 25 shots to Lion City’s nine on the night, and scored just one of their seven shots on target.
Visibly distraught at full-time, Lolley was left to rue what could’ve been as he dissected the result post-game.
“I just thought we were going to do it. We gave our all, we could’ve scored more, we should’ve scored more. I’m just devastated,” Lolley said.
“(It was) fine margins. At their place, they had a couple of chances and scored some great goals, and we had so many chances (but) the ball didn’t seem to go in for us. On another day we could win that game four or five-nil and it’s comfortable. But we just couldn’t get over the line, in the end.
“We’ve got to pick ourselves up and turn the disappointment into something good now. We’ve still got lots to play for and we’ve got to make sure we focus back to the league, do our best and end the season on a high.”
Sydney FC had the better of the first-half chances and could’ve gone into half time level on aggregate at 2-2 if not for a pair of offside calls that denied both Jordan Courtney-Perkins and Rhyan Grant goals before the break.
Courtney-Perkins had the ball in the back of the net after just nine minutes in Sydney but after a VAR review, an offside call kept Lion City’s aggregate lead at 2-0.
The disallowed goal came via a Douglas Costa corner, headed on target by Grant; Adrian Segecic controlled the ball into Courtney-Perkins’ path to finish but Segecic was well offside as the ball left Grant’s head.
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Sydney continued to create chances as Alexandar Popovic fired an unmarked header form a corner directly at Lion City goalkeeper Izwan Mahbud and Segecic fired high over the bar after a cutback pass from Grant on the edge of the box.
Then, Segecic turned provider for Grant who cushioned a deft header past Mahbud into the back of the net but, once again, the offside flag was correctly raised to deny Grant and Sydney FC before the break.
Belgian forward Maxime Lestienne had two great sights on goal in the first half and, early in the second half, was once again presented with an opportunity to put the visitors out of sight – but fired wide of the top-left corner.
Down the other end, Sydney continued to threaten as Joe Lolley played Patryk Klimala through on goal, only for Mahbud to smother the shot from a tight angle.
Dutchman Bart Ramselaar scored one of Lion City’s two first-leg goals and, in a chaotic start to the second half, should have made it 3-0 on aggregate when picked out in acres of space in the box. Ramsellar couldn’t keep his effort down as the ball skied over the crossbar.
With 15 minutes of regular time left to play, Klimala and Lolley were presented with big chances via respective crosses from Costa and Anthony Caceres, but Mahbud was once again up to the task of keeping the Sky Blues at bay.
Then, at last, Sydney found the breakthrough and both Costa and Grant were involved once again; the former found the latter running toward the back post with an early cross off the left wing and from there, Grant’s cushioned header invited Lolley to drive a first-time finish into the bottom-left corner.
Sydney had just minutes to save their ACL Two campaign and force extra time at Allianz Stadium but, despite gaining a surge of momentum after Lolley’s clinical finish, couldn’t find an all-important as the visitors held on for dear life to eliminate the Sky Blues and progress to the ACL Two Final.
“Disappointing,” said head coach Ufuk Talay when summarising his post-match thoughts.
“I think we had most of the ball (for) all of the game, possibly played in their half, we played against a side that’s very defensive and waiting for counter-attacking moments but we struggled to break them down.
“It would’ve been nice if that first goal counted early doors in the game, the offside goal 10 minutes in. It probably would’ve changed things but we got the goal very late, kept pushing and probing but I think where we lost it was conceding the second goal away from home.”
