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The Elimination Final
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Melbourne Victory XI (4-1-4-1)- Lawrence Thomas, Jason Geria, Luke DeVere, Nicholas Ansell, Shaun Pino, Mark Milligan (c), Christopher Cristaldo, John Buceto, Leigh Broxham, Jackson Durand, Jordon Fletcher
Sydney FC XI (3-2-3-2)- Vedran Janjetovic, Sasa Ognenovski, Matthew Jurman, Sebastian Ryall, Pedj Bojic, Nikola Petkovic, Rhyan Grant, Jackson Irvine, Milos Dimitrejevic, Alessandro Del Piero, Emile Heskey (c)
The First Elimination Final of the Hyundai A-League kicked off on the 16th of April 2016, and when Alessandro Del Piero rolled the ball to Emile Heskey, the 29,000 strong crowd got themselves ready for a great match of football.
The first 15 minutes saw no major incidents, but in the 5 minutes immediately thereafter the 2 sides exchanged near misses. Heskey's header rattled the crossbar in the 22nd minute from a Del Piero corner, and Ryall almost scored from the same situation just 2 minutes later. The Victory side began to get rattled as the Sydney players grew in confidence. A half hearted effort from Cristaldo didn't trouble the Sydney keeper and the half wore on with Sydney slowly making inroads. Just before half time however, disaster struck for the Sky Blues. Matthew Jurman's slide tackle is controversially given red, and all of a sudden the advantage is gone.
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Matthew Jurman saw red in the 45th minute
The referee signalled for half time, and the Sky Blues trudged in 1 man down. When the 2 teams came back out, the Victory seemed to have their confidence back whilst Sydney constantly backtracked. Leigh Broxham's shot went narrowly over the bar, and in the 67th minute John Buceto almost scored the first goal of the game. But the linesman ruled it offside, and the score remained 0-0. Even after 5 substitutions, neither team could break the deadlock and to the dismay of both managers, the game went to extra time.
With just 10 men, it was perhaps expected that Sydney FC would stick it out and defend to the end. Their plan, however, was quickly unstuck by a piece of brilliance from Leigh Broxham. Confronted by 3 Sydney FC defenders, marking hard to retain the draw, Broxham somehow saw a gap and played a through ball into the centre of the penalty box. Brent McGrath jumped on the chance and put Janjetovic the wrong way. AAMI Park exploded into cheers as the striker wheeled away, gifting his team a 1-0 lead. It would prove to be instrumental.
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Brent McGrath scored the first, and only, goal of the match in the 94th minute
Extra time ticked on, and eventually the Sky Blue heads dropped. It was enevitable when the final whistle sounded and victory went to well, the Victory. Final score 1-0, courtesy of Brent McGrath.
Now the Victory will play Adelaide United in another huge clash for a spot in the Grand Final. Meanwhile Sydney FC are out of the competition for this season, although the signs seem to be for a positive year next season.