Brisbane Roar saw their undefeated run in the National Youth League come to a crashing halt after suffering a 4-1 defeat at the hands of a nine-man Sydney FC at Campbelltown Stadium on Sunday.
Sydney fielded a strong line-up including two players with significant senior experience in Antony Golec and Matthew Jurman, as well as Terry Antonis and Dimitri Petratos, who both featured for the Young Socceroos at the recent AFC U-19 Youth Championship.
The Sydney team displayed their superiority on the day by running out comfortable winners despite conceding an early goal and having two players sent off in the second half.
The match started brightly for the visitors when a Sydney turnover in midfield saw James Meyer collect the ball, and with no serious danger seemingly imminent, the Brisbane forward unleashed an unstoppable low shot from 30 metres for a spectacular opening goal to the contest.
At the other end Peter Simonoski seemed set to square the ledger within seconds only for goalkeeper Matt Acton to pull off an impressive stop.
Sydney did restore parity midway through the first half with a smart three-man move checkmating the Roar defence, with the referee awarding a penalty for an infringement on Blues skipper Joel Chianese as he attempted to shoot. Midfielder Jared Lum converting from the penalty spot with ease.
Ten minutes prior to the interval a cross from the left resulted in Roar’s Kenneth Dougall seeing his goalbound header produce a stunning fingertip save from Sydney goalkeeper Dylan Mitchell in what could have been a turning-point in the match.
Just as the two teams seemed set to go into the interval even, a powerful run from midfielder Blake Powell into the penalty area was halted by a last ditch Milovanovic tackle, only for Chianese to sweep the loose ball home from 15 metres to give the home side the lead.
Little more than 30 seconds after the restart, Sydney took a stranglehold on the match with a third goal. A well-worked move was initiated with a finely-weighted pass from Golec that found Lum on the left flank whose cross was in turn met perfectly by a Powell header.
The Roar though were given a lifeline of sorts just past the hour mark when Sydney were reduced to 10 men following the dismissal of Jurman for an incident off the ball.
However the home side showed they were undaunted by the setback and scored a comfortable fourth soon after as Lum released Petratos who scored with ease past an exposed Acton.
It could have got worse for the Roar but for a spectacular fingertip save from Acton to deny substitute Tomislav Cirjak, who hit an impressive volley from the edge of the penalty area.
Incredibly Sydney were then reduced to nine men on 75 minutes as Antonis saw red after receiving his second caution.
Sydney still though were able to create openings and Petratos could have extended his teams tally with seven minutes remaining but, after a mazy dribble on the flank, his venomous shot cannoned off the far post and bounced away to safety.
Sydney FC 4 (Jared Lum 26- pen, Joel Chianese 43-, Blake Powell 46-, Dimitri Petratos 67-)
Brisbane Roar 1 (James Meyer 11-)
