Harbour City welcomes A-League with thrilling draw

Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory played out a thrilling 1-1 draw in a high quality A-League season opener at Aussie Stadium in Sydney tonight.

High-profile Sydney recruit Dwight Yorke scored his club’s first league goal with a superb diving header just before half time but Socceroos striker Archie Thompson powered home a fine header of his own on 73 minutes to ensure the Victory claimed a point.

Over 25,000 fans witnessed the first chapter of what is destined to become another great sporting rivalry between this country’s two largest cities, the kick-off delayed by ten minutes to allow thousands of supporters waiting outside the ground the chance to flood into the stadium.

With over 67,000 football supporters attending the opening round of the A-League season, league officials would have been excited by the response to the new domestic competition. Certainly, all in attendance at Aussie Stadium would have left the game very impressed at the standard of football on display.

Sydney appeared to settle the better of the two sideswith a slick opening five minutes but Melbourne soon created two real scoring opportunities, Thompson involved in both. In the eighth minute, he forced Sydney keeper Clint Bolton into a fine save with the rebound falling to Andy Vlahos, who blazed wide. Three minutes later, Thompson found Daniel Allsop just outside the area but his thumping drive failed to find the target.

David Zdrillic nearly opened the scoring for the home side, forcing Melbourne keeper Eugene Galekovic into action with a stinging low drive. But Thompson was proving a constant threat at the other end, one lobbed effort clearing the keeper but rattling off the crossbar.

Finally, with two minutes left in the half, Yorke produced the moment of magic the crowd had been hoping to see. He met a dangerous cross from the right wing with a great diving header, sending the ball across the front of Galekovic and into the top left corner of the net.

The crowd exploded with delight as a grinning Yorke celebrated, Melbourne left lamenting their missed chances to score, which could have been greater if not for the organised Sydney defence drawing numerous offside decisions from the linesman.

Both sides came out firing in the second half, each side receiving two yellow cards as the intensity lifted. Sasho Petrovski looked lively for Sydney as he worked behind Yorke and Zdrillic while Terry McFlynn toiled hard in central midfield.

With Michael Ferrante and Andy Vlahos impressing, Melbourne created more chances early in the second half but had to wait until the 72nd minute to taste success. Much like Sydney’s opening goal, a well-placed cross from right wing allowed Thompson to leap high into the box and unleash an unstoppable header past Bolton and into the net. The equaliser was just reward for the Socceroos striker and came just days after celebrating the birth of his first child.

While Sydney could not conjure up a winner, Yorke in particular fading out of the action as the match wore on, the Victory might easily have taken all three points had they finished off a string of late chances.

Former Belgium international player Geoffrey Claeys made a fine debut in the heart of the Victory defence, his experience and poise telling during the second half while Victory captain Kevin Muscat, lining up on the left side of the defence, played his usual solid, tenacious game.

With impressive crowd figures for the opening round, all eyes will be on the attendance from Melbourne’s sport-loving public at the Victory’s first home game on Sunday against Perth Glory. Sydney will head across the Tasman to tackle the New Zealand Knights next Friday.

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