Sydney FC have continued their return to form with a solid 3-1 victory over Wellington Phoenix in wet conditions tonight. The reigning A-League champions grabbed an early lead through youngster Brendan Gan before Mark Bridge got his first of the season in the second half and Alex Brosque essentially wrapped up proceedings with just under 15 minutes left.
Dylan Macallister pulled one back for the Phoenix seven minutes from time but it wasn't enough for the New Zealanders who remained in seventh position as the Sky Blues jumped from tenth to eighth.
The poor weather conditions contributed heavily to the Sydney fans producing the worst crowd in their history.
A-League Week 16Sydney FC: 3 (Brendan Gan 14', Mark Bridge 72', Alex Brosque 76') Wellington Phoenix: 1 (Dylan Macallister 82')
Venue:Sydney Football Stadium, SydneyCrowd: 4,012 Referee: Gerard Parsons Yellow cards:SYD - Mark Bridge 47' WP - nil
A wet night in Sydney but the pitch was in great condition as Sydney's promising talent Brendan Gan got his side off to a great start after just 13 minutes. GOAL The 22-year old cruised into the area with a well-timed run to get on the end of a clever left-footed cross from Mark Bridge to head home for his first goal in over a year.
The Phoenix were proving tough to break down but were wasteful down the other end with chances to Tim Brown and Paul Ifill going begging.
GOAL The home side were able to capitalize on that lack of efficiency in the 72nd minute when Mark Bridge netted his first of the season thanks to a positive run from substitute Terry Antonis who played a neat ball into the path of the striker who needed no invitation to slot past Mark Paston.
GOAL A few minutes later, the Sky Blues swept to as 3-0 lead with a controversial goal after defender Seb Ryall clearly handled the ball in a challenge with Ben Sigmund before releasing Bridge who squared it up for Alex Brosque to score with a simple finish for a player of his quality.
GOAL In the 83rd minute, the Phoenix got one back through Dylan Macallister but it was merely a consolation as Sydney continued their revival after a horror start to their title defence.
Starting Line-Ups
SYD Ivan Necevski (gk), Seb Ryall, Hayden Foxe, Hiro Moriyasu (Antonis 63'), Brendan Gan, Stuart Musialik, Shannon Cole, Alex Brosque (Petratos 78'), Terry McFlynn, Mark Bridge, Scott Jamieson (Keller 74')
Subs - Liam Reddy (gk), Terry Antonis (63'), Stephan Keller (74'), Dimitri Petratos (78')
WP Mark Paston (gk), Manny Muscat, Nick Ward (Macallister 77'), Tim Brown, Paul Ifill, Daniel (Greenacre 55'), Troy Hearfield (Rojas 55'), Jade North, Vince Lia, Ben Sigmund, Andrew Durante
Subs - Danny Vukovic (gk), Chris Greenacre (55'), Marcos Rojas (55'), Dylan Macallister (77')
