Sydney FC are through to the second round of the pre-season Cup after being put to the test by Queensland Roar in Cairns last night. The Roar will be ruing missed opportunities, as only a win could see them through to the next round.
The match got off to a fiery start. Only two minutes and Alex Brosque retaliated to a tough tackle from Andrew Packer. That tackle perhaps set the tone for the early exchanges. Both teams were playing cat and mouse early on, but after six minutes Dwight Yorke did see his header go over the cross bar.
The Roar began to impose themselves as the game wore on but it was poor finishing which once again let the Queenslanders down. In the 24th minute Jontathon Richter was unable to make Clint Bolton work from the edge of the area, and three minutes later Ben Griffin was also unable to get his shot on target.
Roar's best chance of the first half came on the half hour as Alex Brosque hit a beautiful free kick which Clint Bolton could only parry, but he regathered in time to stop the follow up. The half finished off with Jontathon Richter missing the target again.
Perhaps knowing of the result in Auckland the Roar came out all guns blazing in the second half and tormented the Sydney FC goal. Ten minutes in and Alex Brosque went down in the box from the challenge of Jacob Timpano, but referee Mark Shield waved play on to the despair of the Roar players.
The best chance of the match came in the 60th minute after a superb cross form Space Dilevski found Alex Brosque in the area. Brosque hit a thunderous shot but Clint Bolton proved too good as he saved the shot superbly. Sydney FC was being pegged back as the Roar kept barraging Bolton's goal.
But a combination of poor finishing and bad luck meant the score stayed 0-0 until the closing stages. Two minutes into stoppage time and Hyuk-Su Seo sent a superb ball through to Royce Brownlie. Unfortunately for the Roar, last week's two goal hero was unable to supply the finish and missed the target.
In the end it was a frustrating night for Queensland Roar who kept Sydney scoreless and winless for the first time this season, while Sydney FC did what had to be done to get to next round.
At the end of the match Roar captain Chad Gibson said that his side were perhaps a bit over awed by Sydney FC.
"You've got to respect these (Sydney) guys for what they've done in the game but we have to back our own ability and back ourselves as a team," he said.
"We've got to start playing like men and putting it in from the first minute."