Sydney FC break three-year drought

The deftest of headers from Brazilian star Bobo has ended a Sydney Derby winning drought for Sydney FC that stretched back to December 2018 and in the process delivered a hammer blow to the finals chances of their fierce rivals, Western Sydney Wanderers in front of 17,121 fans at the SCG.

In a derby that lacked the fluidity of others in recent times, in no small part due to the patchy SCG pitch, Bobo was able to guide home his tenth goal of the season from close range with a superbly timed flick from a Milos Ninkovic cross in the 62nd minute.

The dominant performance puts Sydney in a strong position to claim a top two finish come the finals as they edged five points clear of the third placed Central Coast Mariners, albeit with an extra game played.

“Three wins in a row, which is great. We needed to pick up maximum points and we still want to finish second to give ourselves the best chance of winning that Grand Final and we’ve put ourselves in that position with two games to go now,” Sydney coach Steve Corica said.

The only downside for Sydney FC is news that pacy attacker Trent Buhagiar has been ruled out for three to six months with an adductor tear that requires another operation.

The defeat for Western Sydney piles more pressure on boss Carl Robinson with his team now sitting in eighth place, and in grave danger of missing the finals for a fourth straight season, after an aggressive recruitment drive that would be the envy of most clubs in the competition.

“Am I worried? Yes, because we need to win games of football and there’s very little room for error now. We’re in the same boat as a lot of teams trying to get in that top six,” Robinson said.

“You don’t get a god divine right to be in the top six you have to earn it, you have to fight, you have to scrap, you have to do everything you can to get in it.”

Further agitating Robinson and Wanderers fans was a disallowed goal in the first half to Bruce Kamau via VAR inspection, following a foul inside the area by Ziggy Gordon in the build up where was viewed to have blocked a Sky Blues defender.

Bobo proved the difference. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)Source:Getty Images

Patchwork quilt pitch

The crowd for a rare SCG derby was a healthy one but aesthetically and in terms of its influence on the game, the pitch was substandard to say the least. Affected by the influence of Rugby League games that have been played on it, the surface detracted from the quality of the contest and prompted Carl Robinson to state that regular A-League games shouldn’t be played on it, much less a derby.

Margush makes a claim

Amid the ongoing battle for the number two goalkeeping spot for the Olympic team, Wanderers goalkeeper Daniel Margush only enhanced his chances of ousting the likes of James Delianov to be the support act for Tom Glover in Tokyo. He produced a stellar display that included a brilliant diving save from a Luke Brattan free-kick at the start of the second half.

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