Sydney FC ended its run of outs against an ineffective and error-ridden Melbourne Victory at Docklands Stadium on Saturday evening with a 2-0 win. It could easily have been a bigger margin.
The win allows Sydney to jump Melbourne on the ladder, making it a double blow for the overwhelming majority of the 31,564 in attendance.
Mark Bridge opened the scoring midway through the first half, as Sydney took advantage of sustained pressure which eventuated in a corner.
Socceroo hero John Aloisi came off the bench to get Sydney's second just after the hour, after fellow substitute Bobby Petta pressed Rody Vargas into error in the lead-up.
"We didn't go that well last week (losing to bottom side Perth Glory) and we picked ourselves up and took it to the top team," said Sydney coach John Kosmina. "Steve Corica was on fire tonight, and that pulled them out of shape."
"It was a fair result. Sydney was the better team on the night," said Melbourne coach Ernie Merrick after the game. "I'm not looking for excuses, we played badly (tonight), and we got what we deserved."
"Tonight was unacceptable by the standards of this football club," said Victory captain Kevin Muscat. "The whole ninety minutes. We weren't good enough."
"We've got six days to get it right, go to Adelaide, and bring three points back."
Sydney began the match much more brightly than the host and was unlucky not to have scored before it did. Barely quarter of an hour had passed when Victory goalkeeper Michael Theoklitos had to go down sharply to block Brenton Santalab's shot only seconds after Kevin Muscat had been grateful to block a similarly goal-bound shot from Steve Corica.
Although Sydney was playing with only Bridge up front, Sydney's attacking midfielders were quickly in support, finding the gaps between the Victory back four. Melbourne, so often a player short during games this season, looked as if it was playing a man short such was the defensive scrambling required.
Even when in possession, Victory's passes often went astray, and there was little convincing about its play.
"It was an extremely scrappy first half performance," said Merrick of his team. "(There was) some pretty poor interpassing. We were standing off players (and) seemed to be second to the ball. We had hardly a (single) quality strike on target."
Corica had been the ringmaster during Sydney's first-half domination, and Victory was powerless to prevent him taking a grip of the game. "Our marking on Corica in the first half was a disgrace," said Merrick. "We didn't mark well in defensive midfield, and I don't think we played the ball forward from the midfield very well."
The warning signs were not heeded, as four minutes later, Muscat's central defensive partner Vargas had to make a last minute intervention to block another Santalab shot. Evan Berger had been muscled off the ball by Adam Casey on Sydney's right flank and the ball was quickly played into space for the blond winger through Bridge and Corica, to where he now stood unmarked in the inside-left channel.
But whereas conceding the corner seemed as if it would provide some respite for Melbourne, it proved rather to be the starting point for the game's opening goal. Mitchell Prentice played it to the far-post from where Santalab headed it back to the Corica at the edge of the penalty-area. Corica launched a shot, but miscued it badly, dropping it a the feet of Bridge. Bridge turned to shoot home from six metres, squeezing it past Grant Brebner and Billy Celeski as well as the unsighted Theoklitos.
Two minutes before the interval, Santalab had a chance to put Sydney two ahead after out-manoevering a better-placed Michael Thwaite. Once again, Theoklitos was called into action and needed to be at his best to block that shot, and hold the follow-up from Bridge.
Santalab's game was to end seconds after half-time as he damaged his shoulder after falling awkwardly in a challenge with Thwaite. Although he returned to the field, grimaced in pain the next time he contested the ball and was withdrawn from the action. Up until that point he'd been a credible candidate for best player.
Santalab's replacement, Bobby Petta, was instrumental in Sydney's second goal. As he chased a ball sent forward by Robbie Middleby, putting pressure on Vargas, Vargas misjudged its flight, leaving the Dutchman free to cross to the unmarked Aloisi ten metres out and equally unattended. Aloisi's shot cannoned off the underside of the bar and bounced over the line, much to his, and the small band of travelling fans' unalloyed joy. It was Aloisi's first goal since signing as Sydney's marquee player this year.
"Any striker would tell you that it's important to score," said Aloisi. "And the first one is probably the most important. Because once you get that one in, usually they follow a lot easier."
"Rody was the first to put up his hand and say the goal was (his) fault," said Merrick. "Rody's an honest player, he's going to make mistakes."
That second goal was a signal for Merrick to bring on Nick Ward and Matthew Kemp for the anonymous Jose Luis Lopez and embattled Thwaite respectively, as Victory sought to get back into a game slipping rapidly away.
In one of the game's last passages of play, Kemp was to fall for the evening's curse on Victory right-backs, as he inexplicably lost possession to Petta, who in turn fed a fast-running Corica, now through on goal. Once again, Theoklitos was able to get a glove to divert a net-bound shot for a corner, preventing the scoreline from reflecting the balance of play.