Sydney FC saved its best for last securing an emphatic 4-0 victory over the Newcastle Jets in front of 9551 loyal supporters at the Sydney Football Stadium on Sunday.
A first-half double to Alex Brosque laid the foundations for the morale-boosting win before an own goal to former Sky Blues defender Mark Milligan sealed the result for John Kosmina’s men.
Former Jet Mark Bridge completed the onslaught in the 85th minute to seal a comprehensive triumph.
The Jets created the first genuine chance of the contest when Adam Griffiths found himself on the end of a well-weighted corner from Jin-Hyung Song, but the star defender failed to find the mark from point-blank range.
In contrast the hosts made the most of their first chance when Brosque swooped on a clever ball from Stuart Musialik to put the hosts ahead in the 13th minute.
Having found space in the box Brosque avoided one defender before beating a diving Ante Covic with a curling left-foot strike.
The Sky Blues continued to dominate with Shannon Cole, Brendan Gan and Steve Corica all unleashing shots on goal only to be denied by the ever-alert Covic.
An ambitious 34th-minute strike from Tarek Elrich forced Ivan Necevski’s first save of the match but it was an all-too-rare raid from the Jets.
In contrast John Kosmina’s men continued to press and doubled their lead five minutes from the break when Brosque bagged his double.
The Jets defence appeared mesmerised by some clever interplay between Bridge and Brosque before the latter deceived Covic from close range.
It was more of the same to start the second half as Brosque and Bridge both came close to scoring inside eight minutes.
Brosque was never far from the action and came within centimetres of his hat-track in the 63rd minute with a well-directed header.
Song Jin-Hyung fired a rare shot on the Sydney goal in the 67th minute but the Jets were soon back on their heels as the hosts continued to pepper Covic.
The third goal was not without a slice of luck as Milligan deflected an Iain Fyfe cross straight into his own net in front of his former home crowd.
With the three points secured Sydney continued to press and moved further ahead when Bridge netted from close range after a Brosque cross deflected into his path in front of goal to make it 4-0 in the 85th minute.
Sydney FC 4 (Brosque 13, 40, Milligan 76og, Bridge 85)
Newcastle Jets 0
Crowd: 9551 at Sydney Football Stadium
