August 30, 2023
The Australia Cup is the national knock-out competition in Australia, with the early round played in the summer during the regional league seasons, with the final stages played after those leagues have finished and as pre-season for the A-League sides. Today’s Sydney derby was in the round of the last 16 and was being played at the Leichhardt Oval rather than APIA’s own Lambert Park due to the large crowd expected. It was also the first competitive meeting between the two sides.
APIA were featured twice in these diaries in February at the start of their 2023 league campaign and I was fortunate enough to attend their 6-0 home victory over Rockdale Ilinden at their Lambert Park ground.
https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2023/02/apia-leichhardt-tigers-6-0-rockdale.html
https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2023/02/apia-leichhardt-tigers-2-0-mount-druitt.html
The last round of fixtures in the New South Wales National Premier League was last weekend, and APIA clinched the title with a 2-1 home win over St Georges to finish 6 points ahead of Rockdale Ilinden. In some ways, the 6-0 win in the second round of matches was crucial, as if it had, say, instead finished 0-1, Rockdale would have been Champions !
Jack Armson and Jack Stewart both scored 14 goals for APIA during the league season. US striker Jason Romero scored 4 goals in that game against Rockdale and two weeks later signed for A-League MacArthur on a short-term contract as an injury replacement for star player Ulises Dasilva. He played 5 A-League matches in total, scoring once, and at the end of his contract, Romero returned to APIA.
To get this far, APIA had to play three matches in the NSW Regional qualification competition, where they eliminated Lindfield ( 7-0 ), Blacktown Spartans ( 5-0 ) and Sydney Olympic on penalties after a 1-1 draw, all at home. Next, they travelled to Victoria Division 3 side Goulburn Valley Suns in the last 32 and clocked up a 4-1 victory, with Stewart and Romero both on target twice.
APIA have twice eliminated A-League sides from the Australia Cup, beating Melbourne Victory in 2018 and Western Sydney Wanderers in 2021. Both matches were played at the Leichhardt Oval.
Sydney FC entered the competition in the round of 32 stage and progressed after an eventful tie with new A-League champions Central Coast Mariners. The Mariners looked to be going through as the led 3-2 as the game went into added on time in extra time, before Sydney FC grabbed an equaliser through substitute Jaiden Kucharski. There was more drama in the penalties before keeper Andrew Redmayne converted his spot-kick to give Sydney FC a 10-9 shoot-out win.
Last season Sydney FC finished a disappointing 6th in the regular A-League season, and although they beat Western Sydney Wanderers 2-1 in the Elimination Finals, they were hammered 5-1 on aggregate by Melbourne City in the Semi-Final.
Sydney FC have also appeared in these diaries, when I attend their home match against Central Coast Mariners in February 2019, which ironically was played at the Leichhardt Oval during the rebuilding of the Allianz stadium.
https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2020/01/sydney-fc-1-1-central-coast-mariners.html
Sydney FC’s line-up today included ex-Everton, Manchester City and Sunderland defender/defensive midfielder, who won three caps for England between 2011-13, and ex-Nottingham Forest winger Joe Lolley ( and to the punster’s delight played in the same side as Matt Cash ). Their other non-Australian player was Slovak attacker Robert Mak ( 77 caps ) who began his career at Manchester City before going to play for Nurnburg, PAOK Salonika, Zenit St Petersburg and Ferencvaros.
Keeper Andrew Redmayne earned global recognition after coming on as a substitute in the 2022 World Cup play-off for the penalty shoot-out against Peru, where his antics on the goal-line put-off the Peruvian penalty takers to help take the Socceroos to the Qatar finals.
Left-back Joel King has 4 caps and had a brief spell with Odense in Denmark.
Ex-Reading striker Adam Le Fondre, last season’s top scorer, has left the club to join Scottish side Hibernian, midfielder Paulo Retre is now with FC Goa in India, whilst youngster Adrian Segecic has joined Dutch second level side FC Dordrecht on loan.
APIA made two changes to their regular starting XI, with veteran keeper Ivan Necevski being rested to give Anthony Bouzanis an outing, whilst Newcastle Jets loanee Rory Jordan dropped to the bench to give teenager Franco Farinella a start.
Ticket for the game were 20 AUD ( £10 ) in advance or 25 AUD ( £13 ) on the gate. A Corporate Box for 10 with food and drinks was 2,200 AUD ( £1,125 ) !
The match was live streamed on Bet365, who made Sydney FC 4/7 favourites, with APIA at 4/1 and the draw at 7/2.
The temperature at the 19.30 local kick-off time was a cool 17 degrees and it was raining cats and dogs. One of the interesting statistics to come out of the recent Ashes series was that Sydney has lost more days of Test cricket due to bad weather than Manchester !
With the heavy rain, very few brave souls were in the open seats or on the grass bank, and the vociferous Sydney FC fans had gathered in the old-fashioned Keith Barnes stand in the corner behind one of the goals. They were to sing throughout the match regardless of events on the pitch, with the main chant being “The City Boys, will make some noise”.
The referee for the game was Shaun Evans, perhaps taking time out from shooting episodes of Endeavour…………
APIA were in their usual maroon shirts with white shorts, whilst Sydney wore their familiar sky blue shirts with black shorts. With the Leichhardt Oval being primarily used for Rugby League, the markings for the 13-a-side game were clearly visible on the pitch.
The first attack of the game belonged to APIA when a long ball gave Romero a sniff of a chance, but right-back Kealey Adamson, who impressed throughout the game, was alert to the danger and was able to intercept and pass back to his keeper.
Sydney then took control and dominated the opening twenty-five minutes of the contest, forcing the home side to frequently give away possession and winning nearly all the 50/50 tackles. They won a free-kick on the right-hand side of the pitch after 10 minutes and with most people expecting a ball into the penalty area, it was played square across the 18-yard line to captain Brattan, but his shot was blocked.
Stewart then lost possession inside his own half and Hollman played in Patrick Wood, but his shot on the run lacked power and after a slow-motion dive, Bouzanis grabbed at the second attempt.
Sydney should have opened the scoring in the 13th minute. A poor pass out from Bouzanis played Joshua Symons into trouble and he was tackled by Lolley, who then headed into the area with a 2 on one. However, his touch was heavy and Bouzanis redeemed himself with a sliding tackle with the ball rebounding off his legs and off Lolley for a goal-kick. Had Lolley looked up he would have seen Wood with an open goal. You could say Lolley failed to cash in, and certainly wasn’t on the money !
Mak then launched a long-range effort that was straight at Bouzanis, and soon after, he received the first yellow card of the match, sliding in to catch Symons after the defender had cleared.
With 22 minutes played, Sydney lost possession in the APIA half, enabling Farinella to play a splendid cross-field pass to Stewart free on the right, but Rodwell’s good tackle ended the danger.
APIA had looked overawed in the initial stages but they were slowly getting into the game. A nice give and go between Sean Symons and Romero saw Symons get to the left by-line but his low cross was claimed by the diving Redmayne.
Sydney’s Mak was left in space on the left-hand side of the APIA area but he chose to try and move the ball onto his right foot, and Askew closed him down. Wood then had a go from the edge of the area, but his snap-shot with little back-up was straight at the keeper.
Another good move involving Sean Symons and Romero saw the ball played to Armson just inside the visitors’ area, but his shot after turning was hurried and went 10 feet over. He had much more time than he realised.
APIA then had an appeal for handball but the ball appeared to hit stomach of Girdwood-Reich and was rightly waved away, and an attempted defence splitting pass from Joshua Symons to Armson was cut out in the nick of time by Rodwell.
APIA were enjoying a good spell and Joshua Symons was again in the action to find Stewart in space on the right, but the inviting low cross was again dealt with by Rodwell.
Lolley then got involved, cutting in from the right only to produce a weak shot, and then making a threatening run at the APIA backline, only to over hit his attempted pass to play in Wood, enabling Bouzanis to come off his line and claim.
APIA right-back Askew then raced down the right wing but Mak was covering back to make a sliding block to divert the cross off for a corner. Sydney defended the first corner but from the second, Mouta-Marlow jumped the highest but under pressure could only head straight at Redmayne, who made a comfortable save.
Sydney created another chance in the 41st minute. King was in space in the left-hand channel and his ball into the 6-yard box was put wide of the near post by Wood. However, the forward’s blushes were spared by the raised linesman’s flag for off-side.
Lolley made another dangerous run which ended with a dive as Kouta went to make a challenge. However, the free-kick was given and the unfortunate defender was shown the yellow card. The ensuing free-kick was blasted into the two-man wall and wasted.
At half-time, Sydney had enjoyed 60% of the possession and had looked the better side, albeit being wasteful in-front of goal. APIA would have taken comfort from performance in the last twenty minutes of the half.
The rain ceased during the interval, and Sydney came out strongly at the start of the second-half, probably with a flea in their ear from coach Steve Corica. They immediately forced two corners, which were well defended, then Mak made a strong run down the left, but failed to look-up before crossing, so sent a cross into an empty penalty area.
Stewart carelessly gave away possession with Lolley gathering, running across the face of the penalty area and shooting left-footed from a narrow angle, only for Bouzanis to save with his legs. Wood then teed up Lolley, but his shot from just inside the area sailed well over.
Armson incurred the wrath of the referee after bringing down Caceres with a rugby tackle, and a minute later Lolley’s free-kick went over the defensive wall but into the arms of the keeper, who didn’t have to move.
Sydney continued to pile on the pressure and a goal looked inevitable. Mak struck a post after being set-up by Wood and when the ball was reworked from the left, Wood blazed over from 8 yards.
However, the opening goal finally arrived in the 53rd minute. Caceres received a pass just inside the APIA half, ran at the defence, waltzed past two tackles and from just inside the penalty area, drilled a low shot inside the keeper’s right-hand post for a tremendous goal. The midfielder showed his forwards how it should be done !
APIA responded to falling behind with Askew firing a 20-yard effort just over the bar, and then from Kouta’s in-swinging free-kick, Joshua Symons glanced a header a few feet wide.
However, Sydney killed the game as a contest with a second goal in the 65th minute. Lolley slipped a pass behind a square back-line for Wood to run onto and have a simple finish from 8 yards.
A third goal nearly arrived soon after as Mak flashed a shot across the face of the goal, then Girdwood-Reich’s header was pushed away by the overworked APIA keeper.
For APIA, Armson then saw a strong effort from 20 yards from Armson pushed away by Redmayne, and Stewart shot wide, but the last 20 minutes were controlled by Sydney as they missed a string of chances.
Wood put the ball into the net, but had badly timed his run onto the pass from Mak to be ruled offside, Kucharski screwed horribly wide from a good position, and from the centre of the area Mak’s header from Adamson’s cross struck the legs of the diving keeper. Brattan’s bouncing 25 yarder was well dealt with by Bouzanis, and in added on time Glasson’s low shot from the edge of the area produced another good diving save from the APIA keeper.
APIA did have a good case for handball 12 minutes from the end after the ball struck the arm of Girdwood-Reich after Jordan’s free-kick had been turned back into the 6-yard box from beyond the far post, but offside was given instead, although it wasn’t obvious against whom this had been given.
At the final whistle, Sydney progressed to the last 8 with what was ultimately a comfortable victory, and now have a home tie against Western United to look forward to. However, they will probably be concerned with their profligacy in front of goal.
A-League’s sides are allowed to sign 5 foreign players, and Sydney’s chances for the upcoming season probably depending of the quality of the signings they can make before the season starts in late October.
For APIA, being Champions of the NSW NPL and reaching the last season of the Australia Cup and putting up a commendable performance against an A-League should give then strong claims to be part of A-League 2, should it happen in 2024.
Highlights : https://www.australiacup.com.au/match/apia-leichhardt-fc-v-sydney-fc-australia-cup-31-08-2023/22278556
APIA Leichhardt : Bouzanis – Askew, Mouta-Marlow, J. Symons ( Galami ), Kouta ( Nicolaou ) – Farinella, Ucchino, Armson – Stewart, Romero ( Sparacino ), S. Symons ( Jordan )
Sydney FC : Redmayne – Adamson, Girdwood-Reich, Rodwell ( Gurd ), King – Brattan, Caceres, Hollman ( Kucharski ) – Lolley ( Scarcella ), Wood ( Glasson ), Mak ( Amanatidis )
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