Amidst clouds of Orange smoke, we in the Press box viewed a rather shabby game between
a Cosmos team that is now struggling and a Sydney United team that can't score for nuts.
I won't go into the behaviour of the away supporters, lest to say that the fines handed
out better be big, very big, if not horrendous. We must step this behaviour out, NOW. If it is
proven that these hooligans were from Sydney and came in a Sydney united sponsored bus,
then the punishment handed out to United will be large, or Soccer Australia will
have something to answer for.
The game itself never reached great heights. There were very few shots and most of
those were by the visiting team. In the ninth minute, Alex Castro took the ball down
the right hand wing and put in a low cross. The ball was deflected by Tony Popovic behind
the Sydney goal-keeper John Perosh and into the goal for a 1-0 lead to the home team.
This actually awoke a rather lacklustre start to the game. There was a lot of play in the midfield
and a few chances to both sides. Aytek Genc had a shot saved at point blank by an advancing
Mautone and then Marko Perinovic and Castro combined to threaten. Castro was causing
a lot of problems for the visitors in their penalty area through his bustling, never say
die, attitude.
The half finished with Jimmy Patikas, looking for his second goal of the season, blasting the ball over
the bar from rather close range. I'm afraid Patikas is becoming one of these buys that
will not work out, but may just hinder the team from finishing in the top 6. So the Cosmos
were 1-0 up after a rather quiet first half.
The second half really didn't see much change over the first, with very few chances in
front of goal and those that were made, either saved, cleared or missed outright. Perosh
made a good close range save on a Castro shot. After less than a quarter of an hour into
the second half, Cosmos coach Mike Lyons substituted Musitano for Paul Dee. This was a
midfielder for a defender and showed an obvious feeling for the game that it was dying and
the need to hold out was more important than the need to score another goal.
The Cosmos nearly did hold out, but after a corner, Mark Rudan headed towards goal. Manis
Lamond saw the ball coming and deflected it with his head easily beating Mautone as the
ball came off the inside of the post for the equalizer. Neither team really had much of
a chance after this, except for a long distance volley by Perinovic that went over the
bar.
Overall, this was not a good game for the spectator and the result was a fair one and
probably an indication of what each team needed as a result. The Cosmos are now getting
further and further away from the top six and Sydney United are cementing their spot.