(Sorry about calling them Croatia in the previous header; Penny thought I'd change it ... though it's probably deserved; more later.)
Sterjovski scored for Sydney in the 46th and 78th minutes. Sasha Petrovski got Wolves' goal in the 72nd minute.
Crowd at United Sports Centre (King Tom Park) 4,026.
It was a great day for football. Sunny. Warm. Good looking, firm pitch. Happy crowd. Just sort of place you'd expect the sparkling Wolves ball-play to be at its best? Nope. Nope. Nope.
I'm not sure if this was the worst Wolves display I've seen recently (Newcastle last year was pretty woeful) but this was definitely one where I can't even pretend that Wolves were robbed or that they had more of the play and just couldn't finish (most common story).
They were beaten by Sydney's defensive strength and by their speed up front. And Wolves offered precious little in between.
Nick T. said he was going to play around with the midfield. And he did. Surjan, Petrovski and Masi were on the bench. Dimoski gone completely. Paul Reid made his first appearance in the senior team. And is one of the few who can hold his head high(ish).
Souris is another. He was keen at the beginning (two fouls in the first four minutes) and was still tackling strong at the end. Stanton was booked after eight minutes for checking someone on the edge of the area.
Huxley had some deft touches at the beginning but disappeared soon after. Chipperfield and Brooks had some strong runs at goal.
But the running was really with Sydney from early on. Wolves survived a penalty appeal in the first five minutes. Soon after Sydney's man of the match Joel Griffiths put in a cross from wide right, just missing Burns' diving head. Plesa had a chance mopped away by Souris on 15 minutes and another shot flew wide across the Wolves goalmouth a minute later.
Burns was booked for bringing down a breaking Chipperfield (Wolves' aggression was mainly through counter-attacks).
Sinozic was fouled half way through the first half and almost immediately got booked himself.
Wolves best chance was another botch by Brooks who broke clear, only the keeper to beat and, with defenders looming, miskicked to give Crews a relatively easy save.
Hairless-Horsley was losing against Bennett and Ardone.
Pogliacomi almost gave a goal away attempting to stop the ball with his foot. Souris had the right idea: clear it away from the keeper if at all possible.
Just when we were hoping Wolves were getting into the match, Sterjovski started causing trouble, with runs and shots at Wolves' goal. Pogliacomi and his defenders were forced to make several saves in the closing minutes of the first half.
At half time Nick T. Put Surjan on for Stanton and Petrovski on for Salapasidis. Surjan as sweeper! He didn't play too badly, actually, getting more involved in play, even attacking play, as the second half wore on. But he is certainly not fast enough to chase forwards of the ilk of Sydney's speedsters. I was thinking Surjan was to be horribly embarrassed. But once, when he looked to have let Griffiths through for a clear run on goal he hooked the ball away at the last second. Then the pressure was on the hapless Ceccoli and Sinozic. Griffiths, running down the right wing, made them look like tortoises. Squirming around one, then the other, giving Surjan and Souris the opportunity to demonstrate how real defenders tackle. What a relief when Griffiths went off limping. But no. Danny Townsend seemed even faster. Getting through Sinozic and Ceccoli and hitting crosses that, thankfully for Wolves, Caleta walloped wide. Sinozic looked grim. I can't imagine how he's going to play for the Olyroos twice this week and then front up against Canberra next weekend.
Sterjovski's first was on the end of a right side cross from (Bennett?), angled across the goal.
Twelve minutes into the second half Brooks had another chance, but headed over the bar from close range after a (Ceccoli?) cross.
Petrovski's equaliser looked like a rebound after Crews couldn't hold a Brooks shot. Nothing very pretty. But Wolves looked back in the match and seemed to gain a little energy.
Souris pulled off a great point-blank tackle/save from Sterjovski a few minutes later. Sterjovski might have dwelled a little too long on it. That time. His second goal was at the end of a barrage into Wolves' bodies, started after yet another break by Townsend, this time down the middle.
Every time Sydney was in possession you could feel the crowd willing another through ball for Townsend to chase.
Surjan made a great stab at an equaliser in the closing minutes with a free kick swinging over the Sydney wall and just left of the goal.
Sydney United have three wins on the trot. Undefeated at home. Feeling good. Wolves are also undefeated at home. But otherwise their stories are quite different.
About that Croatia business. Christopher went off to play soccer with a friend. He said he didn't want to play with the Croatia fans. No, we said, they are Sydney United fans. No, he said, they are all wearing Croatian shirts. I'm not sure if they all were, but you get the idea. And get this: the Croatia Olympic Federation delegation was there, the Croatia New South Wales Under 16 team (?) paraded out at half time, the two mini league teams were Sydney United/Croatian teams, and even the bottled water came from Croatia.
But ... the atmosphere was pleasant. The crowd was noisy about unpopular decisions. And they cheered the goals. But otherwise the Wolves contingent cheered louder and more often.
Don't see how they can keep the cheering up for long. Reckon Canberra must be looking forward to their first win next week.