Thompson double sinks Sydney FC

Sydney FC’s 14-month unbeaten run at Aussie Stadium has come to an end after Melbourne’s Socceroo striker Archie Thompson scored two second half goals in Melbourne Victory's 2-1 defeat of the home side tonight.

Sydney FC opened the scoring through Steve Corica and dominated the first half but for the 4th time this season the defending champions did not turn a lead into three points, conceding twice in the second period.

The game was played in wet, windy and slippery conditions with the rain that fell across Sydney for most of the day also keeping some fans away from what was a great game in front of a crowd of 20,881.

Sydney FC made three changes with Mark Milligan returning from injury to replace Ufuk Talay and Terry Butcher injecting Ruben Zadkovich and Nikolai Topor-Stanley into the side for Benito Carbone and Matthew Bingley.

Sydney FC started like a team with a mission and gained control right in the early stages with a mixture of aggression and purpose.

Referee Mark Shield showed he intended to keep a tight rain on the game by brandishing the first yellow card after just seven minutes when Milligan clattered into Fred.

Less than a minute later Sydney FC brought the crowd into the game when Steve Corica scored a tremendous goal to make it 1-0. Iain Fyfe stormed out of defence and found Corica with a piercing ball and the midfielder beat two defenders before shooting low past Michael Theoklitos into the bottom right hand corner of the net.

Shield then evened the ledger in the 10th minute when he showed Victory Captain Kevin Muscat a yellow card for a late tackle on Milligan.

In just 10 minutes the scene was set for another epic Sydney v Melbourne match.

Sydney refused to sit back after the early lead and with Corica and Milligan controlling the midfield and Alvin Ceccoli getting forward on the left the home side applied plenty of pressure to the competition leaders.

Fyfe came close after a good move down the right in the 26th minute and Milligan had a drive go just wide in the 28th minute. Brosque and Milligan also had half chances in the ensuing five minutes as Sydney searched for a crucial second goal.

It wasn’t until the 34th minute that Melbourne had its fist chance when Adrian Caceres broke free on the left but his cross just eluded Daniel Allsopp, who was in a good position at the far post.

That half chance signaled a change with the Victory coming into the game in the latter stages of the first half.

Sydney FC did suffer a blow just before half time when goalscorer Corica was replaced by Jeremy Brockie due to a hamstring injury. That was compounded at half time when Milligan suffered a similar injury and Ufuk Talay came into the match.

The twin injuries unsettled the Sydney team and Melbourne took full toll just five minutes after the break when Archie Thompson equalized.

Caceres got in behind the defence and cut the ball back for Thompson and his shot was missed by Clint Bolton after Allsopp seemed to impede the shot-stopper but the goal was awarded.

The equalizer opened up the game with both sides searching for a winner and neither seemingly happy with a share of the points.

Brockie had a shot well saved in the 56th minute before Fyfe almost scored one of the goals of the season but his swerving left foot drive hit the crossbar from 25m with Theoklitos beaten.

Unlike the first half the second term was far from one-way traffic and with play swinging from end-to-end Mark Rudan was forced into a last-ditched tackle to deny Thompson a second goal in the 61st minute.

Ceccoli then launched a 30m rocket that just went over the top with the striker even better than the goal he scored against Queensland Roar two weeks ago.

Melbourne also continued to get forward and Thompson sent the league leaders into the lead in the 73rd minute with a clinical header at the far post from a Caceres cross.

The final 20 minutes was extremely open but the Melbourne defence stood firm and also managed to create a few chances of their own.

In the end it was Melbourne who took the spoils and moved further clear at the tp of the pack while Sydney FC must wait for the remaining round nine fixtures to see if they can remain in the top four.

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