Sydney FC have managed to climb off the bottom of the table with a dubious 1-0 win over Newcastle Jets. Bruno Cazarine's 76th minute was shrouded in controversy after Sky Blues midfielder Hiro Moriyasu cut the ball back from the byline for the Brazilian who tapped it home but on second glance, the ball appeared to have gone out of bounds.
However, the goal was left to stand, allowing the reigning champions to move to second bottom with the hapless Jets falling to the bottom of the heap.
A-League Week 13Sydney FC: 1 (Bruno Cazarine 76') Newcastle Jets: 0
Venue:Sydney Football Stadium Crowd: approx. 6,000 Referee: Chris Beath Yellow cards:SYD - Terry McFlynn 59' NJ - Taylor Regan 4', Kasey Wehrman 89'
It was a fairly evening beginning to the match although things were scrappy in the initial stages.
Sydney took the initiative after some time and were looking dangerous before the Jets fought back and were much more threatening as the first half elapsed.
After enjoying a good spell in the forward third, Newcastle were forced to defend and did a stellar job in keeping out a high number of Sky Blues crosses from both flanks but both sides had to settle for a 0-0 draw at half-time.
Just after the hour-mark, Newcastle should have hit the lead when Ali Abbas missed the target from point blank range with a header. The visitors were wasting some chances with a few golden opportunities going awry.
GOALS With 14 minutes remaining, Sydney took the lead when Bruno Cazarine was on hand to knock in a good piece of work by Hiro Moriyasu down the right flank but the replay showed that the goal should not have been allowed as the ball clearly went over the line.
After that incident, Newcastle were desperate to at least get a point from their short trip to Sydney but could not manage an equalizer in a tense and nervous finish.
Starting Line-Ups
SYD Ivan Necevski (gk), Stephan Keller, Hayden Foxe, Hiro Moriyasu (Ryall 83'), Stuart Musialik, Bruno Cazarine, Shannon Cole, Alex Brosque, Terry McFlynn (Gan 61'), Scott Jamieson, Rhyan Grant (Petratos 71')
Subs - Liam Reddy (gk), Brendan Gan (61'), Dimitri Petratos (71'), Seb Ryall (83')
NJ Ben Kennedy (gk), Taylor Regan, Adam D'Apuzzo, Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Ben Kantarovski, Ruben Zadkovich, Tarek Elrich, Labinot Haliti (Milicevic 86'), Marko Jesic (Wehrman 87'), Ali Abbas, Kaz Patafta (Rooney 71')
Subs - Matthew Nash (gk), Sean Rooney (71'), Ljubo Milicevic (86'), Kasey Wehrman (87')
