Sydney FC have booked a home Elimination Final next weekend against Macarthur FC after a wild last round 7-1 victory over Perth Glory at Allianz Stadium.
The Sky Blues needed a victory to secure a fourth-placed finish and got the job done on Sunday afternoon, getting off to the perfect start care of defender Jordan Courtney-Perkins, before doubles from Joe Lolley and Robert Mak, a rare Luke Brattan penalty and a goal from Joel King.
Inevitable Golden Boot winner Adam Taggart pulled one back just before the hour mark – his 20th of the campaign – but the Glory and Alen Stajcic can have no arguments against the result when you consider the way the defended across this contest.
In the end, the visitors fell apart and it made for extraordinary viewing.
Inside five minutes, Courtney-Perkins was allowed a free header at the back post from a Mak free-kick and made no mistake on his return from international duty with the Olyroos.
At that point, you sensed it may be a long afternoon for the visitors, but the Glory rallied and enjoyed an encouraging period as Stefan Colakovski couldn’t convert a one-on-one against Andrew Redmayne, while Taggart was looming dangerously.
However, a five-minute period just prior to the half-time whistle turned the match on its head.
Oli Sail could only parry a stinging strike from Jaiden Kucharski and Lolley pounced, rounding the goalkeeper and tapping home his 10th of the campaign. Then, an unfortunate penalty decision for handball against Giordano Colli allowed Brattan to convert from the spot.
After the break, Glory enjoyed a surge as Taggart added another highlight to his reel for this season, rifling home a thunderbolt Redmayne was powerless to keep out.
But it was to be the last joy of the visitors’ afternoon as Sydney turned it on in the second half to pull away and balloon the score line. Although, as Network 10 commentator put it, “to my count, I reckon Oli Sail has made five possibly six really good saves, otherwise we could’ve been looking at double figures.”
Mak was in the mood on his 50th appearance in the Isuzu UTE A-League, scoring twice in the space of seven minutes to punish the Glory in style.
Joel King added a sixth in the 81st minute and Sail lay prone on the ground, looking up to the heavens in an image that summed up the latest and final defensive calamity for Stajcic’s side in a season where they finish dead last with 69 goals conceded.
Finally, Lolley added his second in stoppage time to put the final exclamation mark on a sorry afternoon for the Glory and equal Sydney FC’s biggest ever victory.
As a consolation, their campaign ends just short of the record 71 goals conceded in an Isuzu UTE A-League season set by Brisbane Roar back in 2018-19.
“Perth are all over the place,” Hill said in the final stages. “It’s a car crash.”
For Sydney FC, their campaign continues next week in a make-or-break Elimination Final against Macarthur FC at Allianz Stadium.
They will go in full of confidence after netting six here; even if they were unable to find a way past the Bulls last week despite two red cards.
Taggart’s crushing interview says it all as Glory ‘fall apart’
Speaking to Network 10 after the match, Glory co-captain Taggart delivered a soul-destroying interview that said it all about the final weeks of Glory’s season.
While the club copped 23 goals across their last four matches, the striker has all but secured the Golden Boot award, becoming the first player ever to win it from a team that’s finished last on the ladder.
“Yeah potentially (that was even worse than the 8-0 loss to Melbourne City), obviously we just fell apart again,” Taggart said.
“It’s tough to be a part of it. It’s tough to watch. I feel sorry for all the fans watching.
“A blessing for us to now go away and have some time to work on a lot of things.
“We spoke about that at half-time, we had some good chances, Sydney defended well, we didn’t take them as we should have.
“The message from half-time was to try to get the first one; we felt if we could get that, it could really kick us on.
“But as soon as we got the first one… we just fell apart again.
“You saw the last 20 or 30 minutes, they were all over us. They completely dominate the game. It just felt like we were two or three metres off every single ball.
“It’s just frustrating to always be that half a second, one second, two seconds too late.
“You just can’t do that at this level.
“Our inexperience showed and Sydney are a good side. It was them on a good day, us on a terrible day.”
