One of the A-League’s most feisty rivalries, the Big Blue, took place on Saturday with Melbourne Victory running out 3-1 winners against a nine man Sydney FC.
Melbourne Victory took control of the match early with Mark Milligan and Leigh Broxham both missing changes while Marco Rojas showed why he is so highly sought after as he pulled all the strings for the Victory attack.
Alessandro Del Piero was the key to anything Sydney FC could generate with their first chance coming in the 12th minute through a Del Piero free-kick that went straight at Nathan Coe.
Victory got an opportunity when Brett Emerton had to leave the field for treatment giving Melbourne Victory a man advantage temporarily and they used it with Rojas running through Sydney FC and sending in a powerful shot that was redirected by Seb Ryall in to his own net.
Coe was made to make a handful of saves as Sydney pushed late in the half for an equalizer but nothing really difficult came his way as Victory took a 1-0 lead in to the break.
Both teams came out from the break significantly more fired up with six bookings coming in the first 15 minutes of the half.
Tiago severely hurt Sydney FC’s chances on the hour mark when his arm caught Broxham forcing the referee to show him his second yellow card leaving Sydney down to ten.
Despite that Joel Griffiths should have equalized for Sydney FC in the 66th minute as he was out clean through but shot wide.
Archie Thompson punished Joel Griffiths for that missed opportunity after Marcos Flores and Billy Celeski linked up well to put Thompson clean through for a nice finish to double the hosts lead.
In the 72nd minute Rojas made sure the match was over as the New Zealander hit a powerful shot from distance that deflected off Adam Griffiths on its way in to the back of the net.
Sydney FC did manage a consolation goal in the 75th minute through an impressive Joel Griffiths strike from distance, but despite the lift it gave Sydney FC it was never going to be enough.
Things went from bad to worse for Sydney FC at the death as Fabio also earned a second yellow card which will see him out for Sydney’s next match which puts their defense in trouble for a tight clash against Newcastle next week.`
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