On a soggy Saturday night on State Election night, Sydney FC has taken a point away from the Melbourne Heart with a Nil-all score line. The Melbourne Heart has gone 349 minutes without scoring a goal, and are winless in the last 4 matches. This should be a concern for coach John van't Schip, who needs to look at the impotence of the goal scorers.
This is the first clash between these two sides, which seems odd in Round 16 when these teams face each other three times this season.
Of major concern for the Heart is an injury to Josip Skoko who was substituted in the 69th minute. Also Wayne Srhoj will miss two matches due to a prior suspension and receiving 5 yellow cards.
The match was an absolute arm wrestle between the two clubs, both wanting to put some real spark into their seasons and make a run to the final series. But alas, neither side looked dangerous enough to put the ball past the keeper.
The first half of the match was an up and down affair. Both sides fluently passed the ball around the mid-field but could not get the ball wide for the wingbacks to make the cross.
The first chance of the half came with Josip Skoko to Alex Terra with cross in 6-yard box to John Aloisi in the 9th minute.
The most exciting moment in the match came in the 22nd minute. Heart skipper Simon Colosimo saved the day, clearing the ball off the line after Mark Bridge fired after Alex Brosque put him into space. Terry McFlynn than fired the rebound into the goals and Clint Bolton saved the day as well.
The second half of the match was pretty much a replay of the first half. Both sides again fluently moved the ball around in the wet conditions but could not capitalise on their chances.
The best chance in the second half came when Adrian Zahra broke free with a two on one; he crossed the ball to John Aloisi, who should have hit the ball fist time. Stuart Musialik made his way back and shutdown Aloisi from behind after he let the ball get two yards in front of him.
The match finished with Sydney FC's Byun Sung-Hwan receiving two yellow cards within two minutes. The first yellow was ill discipline by back chatting to referee Alan Milliner. The second was because of a poor double foot tackle in the corner.