Sydney FC came back with two late goals to snatch a highly entertaining 2-2 draw against St George City at Valentine Sports Park on Sunday.
The visitors were in control and led by two goals but with five minutes of regular time left on the clock, the young Sky Blues struck.
Firstly it was Nathan Paull who scored followed by Bailey Callaghan who equalised to add credence to the proverbial saying about the dangers of protecting a two-goal lead in football.
The first salvo of the encounter arrived in the 5th minute for St George City when Presley Ortiz cut back from the by-line to Paolo Mitry in the middle who then stabbed the ball towards goal, but goalkeeper Adam Pavlesic made a great reflex save.
St George went ever so close a couple minutes later. Ortiz once again played the provider as he fed the ball beautifully to Maki Petratos, who then fired a rocket against the base of the post with the ‘keeper well and truly beaten.
In the 13th minute Sydney FC should really have taken the lead when they were awarded a penalty.
Pedro Ferrari brought Adrian Segecic down in the box and referee Kelly Jones had no hesitation in awarding the spot kick to the young Sky Blues.
Segecic then dusted himself off and took the spot kick himself but St George’s goalkeeper Jack Kenny made a great save down to his right to deny the home side the opening goal. Kenny was given his chance from the opening whistle as regular custodian Nicholas Burke was shown a straight red card in last week’s draw to the Bulls.
On the half hour mark a long range shot by Franco Maya ended up straight into the reliable arms of Pavlesic, as the light rain continued to make the conditions challenging for both teams.
In the 39th minute St George City took the lead. An in-swinging corner from the left into the box by Maki Petratos was glanced in by a Brendan Hooper header and just out of Pavlesic’s reach. It was too simple for the visitors but at the same time very frustrating for the home side to concede from a set-piece so close to the break.
After the interval the first chance didn’t arrive until the 64th minute when a rather weak shot by Matthew Scarcella for the Sky Blues didn’t really cause any damage as both sides had played a game of cat and mouse up until that point.
A minute later a free-kick from the right by Segecic caused some heart palpitations in the box for the St George City defence but ‘keeper Kenny mopped up well for the visitors.
In the 74th minute though St George City received a penalty down the same end where Sydney FC received theirs in the first half.
It was Aaron Gurd who inexplicably brought down Ortiz and, from the 11-metre mark, it was Kosta Petratos who dispatched a marvellous penalty sending ‘keeper Pavlesic the wrong way. St George’s lead was now doubled and almost unassailable at this point of the encounter. But not definitive.
Sydney FC however halved the lead in the 85th minute and set up a grandstand finish to the encounter. Nathan Paull struck a nice volley from the edge of the box and it was once again game on.
Sydney FC did indeed equalise in the 90th minute when a long ball reached Kealey Adamson who beat a hesitant goalkeeper with a short ball across the face of goal and, from close range, substitute Bailey Callaghan fired home much to the joy of his teammates.
The last opportunity of note belonged to Adamson who unmarked, received a free header from a long cross, but his diagonal header just shaded the posts. It would have snatched victory for Sydney FC but that would have punished St George City far too much.
After the game Sydney FC coach Jim Van Weeren was happy with the point.
“I am extremely proud of the boys to come from 2-0 down,” he said.
“The boys were resilient to stay in control when 2-0 down. We think obviously that we can win any game at any point and we try to have our players understand that.
“The boys are proving that they can more than compete in this league and we have some young players scoring goals.
“Next week we face Wollongong Wolves and they are capable of scoring goals. David Carney obviously played here so it will be an exciting game.”
On the other hand St George City stand-in captain Daniel Alessi was more subdued in his analysis.
“We should have protected our lead today but we didn’t,” he said.
“We have to learn from that because it’s a long season going forward. We have a lot of good players in this squad and we need to learn how to finish games off and see them out.
“Things unfolded for us today but we need to go back and unify the defence. We couldn’t see it out unfortunately today.”
Match Stats
SYDNEY FC: 2 (Paull 85’, Callaghan 90’)
ST GEORGE CITY: 2 (Hooper 39’, K. Petratos 75’)
Sunday 2nd April 2023
Valentine Sports Park
Referee: Kelly Jones
Assistant Referees: Emma Kocbek and Amber Morris
Fourth Official: Mikayla Ryan
SYDNEY FC: 30. Adam Pavlesic, 4. Nathan Paull, 8. Kealey Adamson, 10. Alen Harbas (37. Bailey Callaghan 61’), 11. Clayton Taylor, 18. Oscar Priestman, 19. Adrian Segecic, 25. Jaiden Kucharski (17. Jayden Trenkoski), 26. Zane Schreiber (6. Matthew Scarcella 61’), 29. Aaron Gurd, 34. Max Buratto (24. Alex Parsons).
Substitutes not used: 13. Hayden Matthews, 20. Max Vartuli
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
ST GEORGE CITY: 12. Jack Kenny, 2. Pedro Ferrari, 3. Daniel Alessi, 4. Brendan Hooper, 10. Paolo Mitry (8. Dominic Cox 65’), 11. Kosta Petratos, 14. Dean Pelekanos, 23. Franco Maya, 30. Presley Ortiz (20. Aiden Mostofi 76’), 70. Maki Petratos (6. Tarik Ercan 76’), 99. Matthew Keremelevski (9. Marley Peterson 76’).
Substitutes not used: 7. Nathan Roberts, 51. Salvatore Glinatsis
Yellow Cards: Ferrari 13’, Maya 67’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings
3 – Nathan Paull (SFC)
2 – Kosta Petratos (SGO)
1 – Kealey Adamson (SFC)
By National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s reporter Joe Russo
