Sydney FC’s 3-0 FFA Cup win over the Wollongong Wolves was far from convincing, but will be gladly received during a round of 32 to remember.
Two second-half Matt Simon strikes and a late David Carney finish calmed the nerves of the Sky Blues faithful in front of 8,029 at WIN Stadium.
The slow start was to be expected amid preseason preparations for the club that is publicly aiming for all three trophies in 2016-17, yet the Wolves can be more than proud as the scoreline did not do justice to a brave performance.
Simon earns place as a Plan B
Despite being much maligned at Moore Park, and for good reason with his goal tally to date, Simon has earned his contract extension based off this FFA Cup performance. The striker used his size and physicality to out-muscle his lower division opponents and even following a slow and quiet opening 45 minutes, the centre-forward demonstrated that he can be an option for Arnold when Bobo is not available. Not worthy of being first choice, but a handy ‘Plan B’ if he can kick on with this foundation. Of course he had to receive a pointless booking that should have been a straight red, just for old times sake.
Sydney have width, but only on the left
The new combination of Michael Zullo at left-back and David Carney on the left-wing will take some time to gel, but there is early promise for the boys on the flank. The delivery lacked quality in the first-half, often seeing crosses and cutbacks miss the mark by a fair distance. Yet their runs stretched the play, much more than could be said of makeshift winger George Blackwood and last season’s fullback Rhyan Grant, who now returns on his favoured right-side of defence.
Big names still kept on ice
Alex Wilkinson, Bernie Ibini, Milos Dimitrijevic, Filip Holosko and the yet to arrive Bobo from Brazil were all unused by manager Graham Arnold, as he prepares the squad eight weeks out from the start of the A-League. The latter is expected to arrive in Sydney either this week or early next, as the coach puts the finishing touches on his roster heading into the all important 2016-17 campaign. But the big miss of the evening had to be his compatriot and Selecao legend Ronaldinho. The stunning news that the 36-year-old former AC Milan and Barcelona legend was reportedly just $100,000 away from taking the field for the Wolves would have been a stunning turn of events and a major coup for the FFA Cup.
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