A brace of goals either side of half-time from Kyah Simon has helped Sydney FC record a comfortable 4-0 triumph over Adelaide United at Hindmarsh on Saturday.
After taking some time to get out of the blocks, the highly-fancied visitors were rarely troubled thereafter in a thoroughly one-sided encounter, Simon’s 45th minute goal breaking the back of the Lady Reds on the stroke of half-time and her 77th minute hit the icing on the cake.
Adelaide belied their lowly status by jumping Sydney early, Victoria Balomenos with a near miss to the left in the fourth minute, followed by Stacey Day curling one fractionally high three minutes later.
In the 13th minute, Sydney’s Lydia Vandenbergh was on the receiving end of a deep cross but was errant from close range, before in-form Leena Khamis restored natural order and saw the Sky Blues draw first blood when her diving header in the 16th minute found the back of the net.
United had a chance to equalise in the 27th when Selin Kuralay, the side’s goal-scorer last week, had a paddock to lope into but, following a long run, her shot lacked finishing power and dribbled away listlessly to the left.
Renee Rollason’s stinging close-range hit in the 29th minute was expertly pouched by Adelaide custodian Kristi Harvey, the visitors on the attack and looking dangerous but United managing, largely, to hold them at bay.
Balomenos emerged worse for wear following a collision with Vandenbergh in the 40th minute and was sidelined only briefly after the stretcher was brought out but not utilised.
Sydney had all the play but only had one goal to show for their efforts on just before half-time.
That was until Khamis found Simon, who nodded it home in the 45th minute after the besieged Reds’ defence had been caught napping, to make it 2-0 at the break.
Balomenos came close to halving the deficit 49 minutes in, with a solo run which almost paid dividends, her well-connected hit not too far off the mark.
Ruth Wallace followed up with a sharp hit which was snapped up by Sydney goalie Dimi Poulos, before the Sky Blues replied immediately on the counter-attack by going coast-to-cost, Kylie Ledbrook finishing a fine passage of play with an easy goal in the 53rd minute.
It was almost 4-0 when Khamis’ header hit the left upright shortly after, but, after a prolonged stalemate, Simon made no mistake in the 77th minute, nonchalantly converting her second goal and her team’s fourth, Adelaide’s defence well out of position.
Simon almost undid her afternoon’s good work four minutes later when her hard challenge on Vedrana Popovic saw her cop a yellow card – she was fortunate to not earn a red.
It was one of five yellow cards handed out in total for the afternoon as both sides attempted to exert their physicality
The visitors peppered their goal in the final minutes, but Harvey was extremely impressive on the last line, her busy work and sure hands arguably preventing the scoreline from blowing out even further.
Adelaide United 0
Sydney FC 4 (Khamis 16, Simon 45, 77, Ledbrook 53)
@ Hindmarsh Stadium, 18/12/2010
