Melbourne Victory were defeated by Sydney FC 3-0 on Easter Sunday at AAMI Park.
Summary
Grant Brebner’s match tactics took a dramatic turn when Victory went down to ten men half an hour into the match.
Elvis Kamoba was shown a red card for a second bookable offence as Brebner’s side fought hard to deny Sydney’s attack on a number of occasions.
Kamsoba was the first Victory player involved in action, after picking up a booking for a high foot on centre-back, Ryan McGowan.
Adama Traore then came close to giving Victory the lead, surging forward before unleashing a left-footed effort from distance.
The defender’s shot was well saved by Sydney’s Andrew Redmayne, who forced the effort onto the post.
With half an hour played, Victory were dealt a disadvantage when Kamsoba was sent off for a foul on Paulo Retre.
Three minutes before the break, Sydney’s extra man paid off.
A low cross found Bobo, who converted from point-blank range giving Sydney the lead at half-time.
The away side made it 2-0 five minutes into the second half through Kosta Barbarouses – beating Matthew Acton with a low, driven shot.
A Nick Ansell header denied Sydney a third with a brilliant goal-line clearance following a series of Sydney attacks.
Acton then showed some great acrobatic skills to tip the ball over his crossbar – keeping Victory in the match.
With ten men, Victory had to work hard to retain possession and construct chances in the final third.
Jake Brimmer picked out Ansell in the Sky Blue penalty area and the defender climbed well to get on the end of the cross, but could only find Andrew Redmayne with his header.
After consulting the VAR screen the referee gave Sydney a penalty in the 83rd minute, which was later converted by substitute, Alexander Baumjohann.
In stoppage time, Sydney’s McGowan had a goal disallowed for offside which kept the final score at 3-0.
What they said: Storm Roux
On the red card…
“We played some good football and you get a red card that early on, it’s going to kill you and we ended up defending for the rest of the game.”
On Elvis Kamsoba…
“He was devastated and he knew he made a mistake. The way I saw it, it was unfortunate. He was just going for a tackle and there was nothing reckless in it.”
Result
A-League 2020/21
Melbourne Victory 0
Sydney FC 3 (Bobo 41′, Barbarouses 50′, Baumjohann 84′)
Melbourne Victory: Acton (gk); Roux, Ansell, Ryan, Traore; Butterfield, Barnett, Brimmer; McManaman, Kruse (c) (Folami 67′), Kamsoba
Sydney FC: Redmayne (gk); Grant, McGowan, Wilkinson, King (Warland 75′); Retre (Nieuwenhof 58′), Brattan, Ninkovic (Ivanovic 58′); Caceres, Barbarouses (Wood 86′), Bobo (Baumjohann 58′)
Yellow cards: Kamsoba 14′ & 32′, McGowan 63′
Red cards: Kamsoba 32′
Attendance: TBA
Venue: AAMI Park
Next up
Victory travels to Newcastle to take on the Jets this Saturday.
