With the away goals rule no longer in use, both teams have it all to play for in the second leg on Friday night at AAMI Park – but the Sky Blues have not beaten City there since November 2018, when coach Steve Corica was only a few weeks into his role. They will need to take their late-season revival to a new level to be any chance.
Robert Mak is challenged by Callum Talbot.Credit: Getty
“I think they’ve got the pressure. They’re at home as well,” Corica said.
“No one expects us to beat them, but I think after tonight, we showed we can. There’s going to be opportunities for us next week. If we take them, we’re in with a really good shot.”
City coach Rado Vidosic admitted his side were below their best but was confident they would assert their supremacy next week. He also claimed the new structure of the A-League’s finals series – which gives the top two teams a week off, but no double chance, with another week-long break before the grand final in Sydney to follow – has given them no real advantage for finishing top of the ladder.
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“I don’t think that we played as well as we can. Maybe just having a week off, they were maybe a little bit more match-fit, game-ready than us,” he said.
“It’s not just having the week off in the round one [of the finals], you have a week off before the grand final – so in five weeks, you only play three games. And for us, if we make the grand final we play two away, so there’s really no advantage. Honestly, I would like them to reconsider at least the format, if they can’t change where the grand final will be played, so that there is some benefit for the top two teams.”
Sydney picked up where they left off after last weekend’s 2-1 win over Western Sydney Wanderers. They started the match with attacking intent and troubled City with their high press, but failed to take advantage of the early momentum.
That was always going to spell danger against such crafty opponents, and so it proved when the sucker-punch reply from City arrived. From a free kick earned by Jordan Bos on the edge of the penalty area, Valon Berisha delivered an inch-perfect ball for a leaping Leckie to nod home. Andrew Redmayne could do little about it– and neither could referee Adam Kersey, who was summoned to the VAR booth and had a long look for a potential offside before eventually allowing the goal to stand.
The pendulum then swung the other way, and Sydney were lucky not to be three goals down at half-time. Richard van der Venne dispossessed Jack Rodwell in the box and fluffed a one-on-one chance, and a header from Curtis Good rattled the crossbar three minutes later.
There were plenty of twists and turns to come and, in the end, City will be grateful for the safe hands of Glover, who made five stops to avert what would have been a disaster for the newly crowned premiers.
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