Newcastle Jets 1–2 Sydney FC
By Kris Goman.
Sydney made the trip north up the highway to McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle for this third round W League clash.
Sydney went into the game coming off a win against cross city rivals Western Sydney Wanderers and Newcastle came off a loss to the Wanderers, both having only played one match.
Sydney lined-up in a 4-3-3 formation compared to the home side’s 5-4-1 defensive formation.
Seven minutes in, Newcastle’s Taren King got a yellow for a tackle on Princess Ibini in the centre of the park. Teresa Polias took the free kick and Ally Green moved it down the left side and crossed to Cortnee Vine who controlled and shot harmlessly wide of the top left corner.
Soon after, Polias took a corner and curled it in. Claire Coelho punched it away but Natalie Tobin gathered it up and passed out to Ibini who took a shot but it was easily blocked.
Another bad clearance, which was Newcastle’s downfall against the Wanderers, is snatched by Remy Siemsen who had a crack but the effort was blocked again by Coelho. The resulting corner was safe in Coelho’s hands. Ibini takes another decent shot after bringing the ball to the top of the box from the sideline but it too goes wide to the left.
The Jets got out of their half with Sophie Harding taking the ball down the left unchallenged after a long ball in transition. For some unknown reason, she then almost stopped when she got into the box to eventually pass across to Rhianna Pollicina who shot low and Jada Mathysson-Whyman took the ball in.
Newcastle were not allowing Sydney too much time on the ball and thus the turnovers are frequent, despite the pressure. Sunny Franco had a shot which went high over the crossbar as Newcastle started to up their own pressure.
Back at the other end, Cassidy Davis fouled Ibini and once more Ibini is the target of a yellow grade tackle. It looked more like a rugby tackle and was quite late. The continued fouls on Ibini show that the Jets aren’t letting her get any space. Polias took it and went for goal but skied her effort over the crossbar.
With four minutes to go until the break, the Jets got a free kick near the sideline. Gema Simon took it and there was a lot of heading as the ball bounced around the box before it landed at the feet of Tara Andrews who popped it past Whyman for the first goal of the match. Newcastle ahead 1-0 and it stayed that way at half time.
The second half opened with Sydney dominant from the start. Within two minutes, Cortnee Vine sent a couple of balls into the box that bounced around but eventually got to Taylor Ray at the back of the box. The 19 year-old wound up her left foot, struck it beautifully and it flew into the bottom right corner for the equaliser.
Newcastle finally got a bit of play when Sunny Franco took it down the right and crossed but Sophie Harding was ruled offside so it was all for nought.
Once more, a heavy tackle from behind by Franco on Ibini results in a free kick for Polias. She chipped it into the whirlpool but the ball was headed away safely by Newcastle. Sydney had another chance shortly afterwards when Vine brought it down the right and crosssed to Siemsen but the Jets defence stepped up and she’s offside.
Ally Green took a nice run down the left for Sydney, swerving past a few players but the cross went over Allira Toby’s head. It went back into general play around the box a number of times before landing at Rachel Lowe’s feet and she lobbed an effort over the players in front. It goes in the left side of the net past Claire Coelho’s forlorn look. 2-1 and Sydney take the lead at the 75 minute mark.
Newcastle had a chance to hit back after a bit of ping pong in the box which ended with handball by Mackenzie Hawkesby. Jets’ Gema Simon stepped up with Tara Andrews for the kick just outside the box and the chance to equalise. Andrews took it with some power towards the top left but it just skims the bar.
With four minutes stoppage time announced, Newcastle were applying all the pressure. A long ball went forward to Toby but she sent it over the crossbar before the final whistle blows.
Sydney ran out winners in what was, in the end, a pretty close match that could have gone either way. Sydney had the better possession and territory and probably the most telling statistic was balls into area which was 32 for Sydney and 12 for Newcastle.
Despite this, Sydney only had 10 Shots and Newcastle 8, and shots on target were only 3 for Sydney and 4 for Newcastle.
Newcastle certainly continue to be a threat and are no easy beats but Sydney’s class shone through in the end to take them into second place in the table with two matches in the round left to play. Cortnee Vine got player of the match.
Teams: NEWCASTLE JETS: Coelho, Brewer, Simon, King, Davis, Bass, Franco, O’Brien, Pollicina, Harding, Andrews. Substitutes: Simonsen (GK), Tamplin, Petratos, Allan, House.
Scorer: Andrews 41.
SYDNEY FC: Mathyssen-Whyman, Mclean, Green, Tobin, Brush, Polias, Hawkesbury, Ray, Siemsen, Vine, Ibini. Substitutes: Offer (GK), Hristodoulou, Lowe, Rule, Toby.
Scorers: Ray 48, Lowe 75.
Referee: Isabella Libri.
Attendance: 1,918.
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