Sydney has wrapped up the inaugural National Youth League Premiership in convincing style with a 7-1 thrashing of the Newcastle Jets at Adamstown Oval on Saturday evening.
The Jets took the lead early through James Virgili but goals to Chris Payne, Kofi Danning and Rhyan Grant in a blistering seven-minute period gave Sydney the controlling hand and the competition leaders never looked back.
An own goal to Newcastle skipper Taylor Regan and a cracking goal to Sam Munro saw Sydney hold a 5-1 advantage at half-time.
The second half was a decidedly less extravagant affair with Sydney adding to its tally late in the match through Brendan Gan and Zach Cairncross.
The win seals the inaugural NYL Premiership for Sydney while the loss confirms the wooden spoon for Newcastle with just one round remaining this season.
The afternoon match was pushed back to the early evening due to the brutally hot conditions with the mercury pushing up toward the 40 degree Celcius mark and it was the home side that seemed to adapt best to the heatwave with Virgili slotting home after he had been put into a scoring position via a great through ball from striker Jesse Pinto.
Newcastle continued to hold sway and almost doubled its lead in the 11th minute when striker Brody Mooy fired a goal-bound shot from 25 yards only to see Sydney goalkeeper Vedran Janjetovic hold onto the stinging drive.
Sydney struck back five minutes later when Payne unleashed a low shot from outside the area which bobbled under Jets custodian Ben Kennedy. The visitors took the lead in the 19th minute when Danning snuck in at the far post to volley home a Matthew Hall cross.
The momentum swing continued to favour the visitors and Grant made it 3-1 when he lobbed Kennedy with a cheeky shot from 20 yards out in the 23rd minute.
Gan should have made it 4-1 just minutes later when he spooned his shot over the crossbar from just 10 yards out. But Sydney only had to wait a few moments to take a three-goal lead when Regan turned a harmless looking cross into his own goal.
Regan almost made amends when he headed narrowly wide from a Virgili cross and then Virgili did well to beat three defenders only to see Janjetovic swallow up his shot.
Munro completed a spectacular half for Sydney when he chanced his hand from 30 yards out and fired an amazing shot into the corner of the net to make it 5-1 at the break.
Compared to the opening 45 minutes, the second half was a dour display with both sides feeling the heat in a tough midfield struggle.
Gan got the scoreboard clicking again when he a finished off a brilliant solo run that began in his own half in the 79th minute before Cairncross snared Sydney’s seventh goal six minutes from time when he headed home a corner at the near post.
Match Details
Newcastle Jets 1 (James Virgili 6-)
Sydney FC 7 (Chris Payne 16-, Kofi Danning 19-, Rhyan Grant 23-, Taylor Regan (og) 35-, Sam Munro 42-, Brendan Gan 77-, Zach Cairncross 84-)
Adamstown Oval, Newcastle
Saturday 7 February 2009
Referee: Kris Griffiths-Jones
Assistant Referees: Michael Amloh, Nathan Magill
Fourth Official: Adam Weir
Newcastle Jets line-up: 1.Ben KENNEDY (gk), 3.Antun KOVACIC (OA), 4.Jon GRIFFITHS, 5.George STROGYLOS (14.Ben MARTIN 45-), 8.Matt HARPER, 9.Brodie MOOY, 6.Taylor REGAN (15.Simon MOONEY 45-), 7.Kaz PATAFTA (13.Joel WITHERDIN 59-), 10.Jesse PINTO, 11.James VIRGILI, 12.Jarrad ROSS
Substitutes not used: Nil
Yellow cards: Jesse Pinto 43-
Red Cards: Nil
Sydney FC line-up: 1.Vedran JANJETOVIC (gk), 2.Rhyan GRANT, 3.Luke AUSTIN (5.Chris TRIANTIS (c) 60-), 4.Simon COLOSIMO (OA) (10.Zach CAIRNCROSS 57-), 6.Chris PAYNE, 8.Antony GOLEC, 11.Kofi DANNING, 12.Ibrahim HAYDAR, 13.Sam MUNRO, 14.Brendan GAN, 16.Matthew HALL (7.Robbie MILESKI 55-)
Substitutes not used: Nil
Yellow cards: Antony Golec 75-
Red Cards: Nil
