A-League: Controversial disallowed goal ends Sydney FC’s season as grand final teams locked in
The teams for the A-League grand final are locked in with Central Coast Mariners to host Melbourne Victory at Gosford. This is how the semi finals unfolded.
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The teams for the A-League grand final are locked in with Central Coast Mariners to host Melbourne Victory at Gosford.
The Mariners have a shot at capping back to back A-League championships and a treble, while the Victory will be out to win another title in enemy territory.
ONE WIN FROM GLORY
Central Coast Mariners are one win away from securing back-to-back A-League championships and a remarkable treble after earning a grand final berth at the expense of Sydney FC.
The Mariners will host Melbourne Victory next weekend’s championship decider at Gosford’s Industree Group Stadium after beating Sydney FC 2-1 on aggregate in their two-legged semi-final.
Having led 2-1 after the first-leg, the Mariners held on to their advantage with a 0-0 draw in front of more than 20,000 fans in Gosford on Saturday night.
Earlier, the Victory booked its spot in next Saturday’s grand final with a 2-1 extra-time win over Wellington Phoenix at Sky Stadium.
Substitute Chris Ikonomidis scored the Victory’s winner 12 minutes into extra-time after the score was locked at 1-1 at the end of normal time following a late equaliser from Phoenix substitute Oskar Zawada.
The Victory is now the only team standing in the way of the Mariners’ bid to complete the treble, with reigning champions Central Coast having already won the A-League premiership and the AFC Cup this season.
“There were some crazy moments in the game,” Mariners captain Danny Vukovic told Network 10.
“It might not go down as a classic. There weren’t any goals but it was still an incredible match and we’re so happy to get through.
“We knew if we kept a clean sheet, we’d go through to the grand final and we did that.”
Four yellow cards were issued in a sometimes testy first-half by referee Alireza Faghani, including one to Mariners coach Mark Jackson.
The Mariners coaching staff continued to test the patience of Faghani and it backfired early in the second half when Jackson’s assistant Danny Schofield was banished to the stands after being shown two yellow cards, and a subsequent red card, in the space of 10 seconds for ongoing dissent.
A sulking Schofield then acted petulantly by raising his middle finger at a television camera as he headed down the tunnel.
The Sky Blues thought they had gone ahead midway though the second half when a deflected shot from Robert Mak crossed the goal-line before Mariners defender Brian Kaltak was able to clear the ball to safety.
However, after being advised by the VAR to watch footage of the incident, referee Faghani ruled that Sydney striker Fabio Gomes was offside when Mak had his shot and had interfered with Kaltak’s attempt to reach the ball before it crossed the line.
Sky Blues coach Ufuk Talay was unhappy with decisions that went against his team.
“For me the disappointing part was that the game wasn’t decided by the players, it was decided by the officials,” Talay said.
“Sometimes people need to be accountable for the decisions that they make. We rely on the person in the (VAR) box too much.”
Just a couple of minutes earlier, Sydney had also had a lucky escape when a shot from Mariners midfielder Brad Tapp was cleared off the line by Sydney skipper Luke Brattan.
VICTORY ENDS FAIRYTALE IN THRILLER
Melbourne Victory has earnt a shot at a fifth A-League championship after beating Wellington Phoenix 2-1 a thrilling semi-final second-leg battle at Sky Stadium on Saturday night.
Unable to beat the Phoenix in four previous attempts this season, the Victory did it when it counted most, sealing a spot in next Saturday’s grand final with a goal from substitute Chris Ikonomidis in the 12th minute of extra-time.
With last Sunday’s first-leg having finished in a 0-0 stalemate, the scoreline was enough for the Victory needed to break the hearts of all but a few of the 33,297-strong crowd in Wellington.
Ikonomidis’ headed winner from a Jake Brimmer corner came after Phoenix substitute Oskar Zawada had equalised for the hosts in the ninth minute of stoppage-time to ensure extra-time was needed to decide a contest that had earlier had already seemed in the Victory’s keeping when veteran left-back Adam Traore scored with a bullet-like strike that flew into the top corner of the net in the 82nd minute.
It was Traore’s first goal of the season and just his fifth in 229 A-League appearances.
While the goals from Traore and Ikonomidis were crucial, so were further penalty-saving heroics from Victory goalkeeper Paul Izzo.
Izzo came to the Victory’s rescue in the 63rd minute when he saved a spot kick from Phoenix skipper Alex Rufer after a penalty had been controversially awarded for a handball offence against Daniel Arzani following VAR intervention.
Izzo, who saved three penalties in the Victory’s shootout success against Melbourne City in the elimination final, as well as one in normal time of the same match, dived low to his right to deny Rufer, and then made a second save after the loose ball was fired back in his direction.
It was another heroic finals series moment from Izzo, whose Victory side will meet the Central Coast Mariners in next weekend’s decider.
“It’s just confidence – at the moment I’m feeling it,” Izzo told Paramount +.
“Tonight was our night. The boys killed themselves out there. All the noise was against us, but we all used it as fuel and here we are.
“It was a fantastic story that could have been for the Phoenix but the Melbourne boys did it again, and we go into (the grand final) with confidence and looking to do the exact same thing.
“We’re in a grand final. It doesn’t matter where we’re playing. We’re extremely happy. We can’t wait.”
Earlier, the Phoenix had claims for a penalty in just the sixth minute when attacker Kosta Barbarouses seemed to be impeded by Victory skipper Roderick Miranda as he had a shot that was comfortably saved by Izzo.
However, the VAR didn’t feel the need to question referee Daniel Elder’s decision to allow play to continue.
The dangerous Ben Old had a great chance to open the scoring for the hosts in the 40th minute with a header after rising to meet a floated ball from teammate Nicholas Pennington,
However, Old failed to get enough power in his effort, which was again saved by Izzo.
The Phoenix had another golden opportunity to score five minutes after half-time, with Old this time the provider of the chance with a inch-perfect cross for Bozhidar Kraev
However, the Bulgarian attacker somehow failed to direct header on target from the edge of the six-yard box.
They were to prove costly misses in the end, with the Victory’s sharper finishing proving decisive.
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Originally published as A-League: Controversial disallowed goal ends Sydney FC’s season as grand final teams locked in
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