Sydney FC have kept their A-League finals dreams alive with a fighting 2-1 win over the Newcastle Jets at EnergyAustralia Stadium on Monday.
Sydney was forced to attack on the counter for most of the match but capitalised on two lapses in concentration to hold a 2-0 lead at half-time courtesy of goals to imports Hirofumi Moriyasu and Bruno Cazarine.
Newcastle made line-up changes in the second half and pulled a goal back through substitute striker Labinot Haliti in the 65th minute. But despite the Jets dominating possession and territory for the remaining 25 minutes they were unable to get the elusive equaliser and Sydney held on to register just their fifth win of the season.
The victory lifts Sydney off the bottom of the table and catapults them into ninth spot on the ladder just four points behind the Jets in eighth place.
The Jets started the match without without match-winning striker Francis Jeffers, who was force to miss the last match of his 10-game guest stint with a groin strain. His replacement was new buy Ryan Griffiths, who made his debut up front.
It was the home side who started better creating the first real chance of the match in just the fifth minute when Jobe Wheelhouse found himself unmarked and inside the Sydney penalty area. He fired a left footed shot but Sydney goalkeeper Liam Reddy got a glove to the ball and it crashed into the far post.
Newcastle were dealt a body blow in the 12th minute when key defender Ljubo Milicevic hobbled off the field after injuring his ankle. Italian import Marcello Fiorentini came on as defensive midfielder with skipper Kasey Wehrman dropping back to the central defender role.
Sydney broke the deadlock against the run of play in the 35th minute from a set-piece. A looping Scott Jamieson corner landed at the feet of Japanese import Hirofumi Moriyasu, who volleyed the ball through a crowded penalty area and into the corner of the goal for a 1-0 lead.
Sydney doubled their advantage right on the stroke of half-time when an errant back pass from Wehrman put Dimitri Petratos through on goal. Newcastle goalkeeper Kennedy did well to come out kick the ball away but it squirted out to Cazarine who gladly slotted the ball into an empty net for the visitors to hold a 2-0 lead at the break.
A brief shower of rain at half-time dampened the pitch but it didn’t dampen Sydney attack and Kennedy was forced to make a good save from a Jamieson effort from just outside the box.
Newcastle coach Branko Culina made two substitutes on the hour mark benching Griffiths and Jesic and bringing on experienced strike pair Sasho Petrovski and Labinot Haliti and changing the formation to a 3-5-2 with Fiorentini in defence and Wehrman and Tarek Elrich into the midfield.
The change had an immediate effect with the Haliti scoring after an enterprising move through the midfield. A Wehrman pass found Ruben Zadkovich in space down the right flank, he took play down the wing before squaring to Haliti who slotted the ball inside the near post to make it 2-1 after 65 minutes.
With the momentum now behind the home side they launched a series of attacking raids on the Sydney goal with Zadkovich and Haliti combining with a nice interplay in the box only for