Sydney FC has claimed top-spot on the Hyundai A-League standings with a commanding 3-0 victory over fierce rivals Adelaide United at the Sydney Football Stadium on Saturday night.
The Sky Blues’ dominant display was highlighted by spectacular strikes from Terry McFlynn and replacement Brendon Santalab as John Kosmina’s men claimed maximum points for the third time this season.
A weary Adelaide line-up toiled manfully throughout in hot conditions but struggled to create genuine chances after an arduous week which saw them travel to Japan mid week for the first leg of their Asian Champions League quarter final.
McFlynn answered coach John Kosmina’s call for his players to be more aggressive with a glorious second-minute strike from the edge of the box to hand the hosts a dream start.
Skipper Tony Popovic found Alex Brosque in space who in turn flicked the ball into the path of McFlynn who surprised Adelaide custodian Eugene Galekovic – and everybody else in the ground – with his thunderous right-foot effort.
The hosts continued to control proceedings but had nothing more to show for their efforts at the half-hour mark against a flat Reds line-up featuring eight new faces from the side that drew 1-1 with Kashima Antlers on Wednesday night.
Sydney finally doubled its advantage in the 34th minute when Brosque found the back of the net from close range.
Popovic again played the role of provider landing a 30-metre pass on his team-mate’s chest, but Brosque had plenty of work left to do.
The in-form striker showed great poise to evade a charging Galekovic and a second Reds defender before calmly slotting his side’s second of the half.
Brosque threatened to grab his double minutes later when he found himself on the end of a pin-point cross from the dangerous Shannon Cole but could not convert.
Having offered very little in attack throughout the opening stanza, the visitors looked certain to open their account in the shadows of half-time when Cristiano pounced on a rare defensive lapse from the Sydney skipper.
But it wasn’t to be for the Brazilian who was denied by the left post as the hosts held on to a 2-0 advantage at the break.
When asked if that was the best the team could play, Kosmina said there was still improvement.
“I think we’ve probably got another 20 to 30 percent in us, seriously,” Kosmina said.
“I think there’s a lot of times where we could have got in around the edge of the box that we didn’t.”
“We turned the ball over a couple of times a little bit too easily in bad areas of the park and nearly got punished for it, so when you take all of those out of the game then we’ll be better.”
Adelaide coach Aurelio Vidmar defended his makeshift line-up.
“Of all those players that came in tonight they’ve had hardly any game time so obviously in terms of match rhythm they’re going to be well behind the eight ball,” Vidmar said.
“I knew that and one good thing is that they came out of it unscathed, so that’s a positive, and it was really positive the way the bounced back in that second half and started to really push.”
Neither side looked likely to trouble the scoreboard attendant in what was a flat opening 20 minutes of the second stanza.
To their credit, the visitors began to ask questions of Kosmina’s men with only desperate scrambling defence from Iain Fyfe, who stopped Sasa Ognenovski and Kristian Sarkies, denying the visitors.
But when substitute Brendon Santalab scored against the run of play in with 11 minutes remaining, all hope was lost for the weary Reds.
Santalab unleashed from 30-metres out with a thunderous-right foot strike which crashed into the top right corner of the net to the delight of the vocal home crowd.
Sydney FC 3 McFlynn (‘2), Brosque (’34), Santalab (’79)
Adelaide United 0
at Sydney Football Stadium. Crowd: 12,462
