Sydney brushes Gold Coast aside

Dimitri Petratos got off the mark for Sydney FC with a stunning finish to open the scores.

Sydney FC won their second consecutive match after dispatching a 10-man Gold Coast United 2-0 at Sydney Football Stadium on Saturday evening.

Dimitri Petratos scored the first goal of the game with a stunning finish on 32 minutes to open his account at A-League level.

The young forward broke into the box following a great dribble and pass from Hiro Moriyasu, before flashing it across Glen Moss's reach with his left peg.

Substitute forward Juho Makela sealed the win in injury time after a flowing move found Sebastian Ryall, who dinked it into the forward's path to nudge past the keeper in his first home game for Sydney.

However, an over-exuberant celebration nearly ended very badly for team-mate Matt Jurman, after Sydney fans surged forward and pushed an advertising hoarding over, pinning him down by his leg.

He was able to hobble off the field with not too much visible damage done.

The win takes Sydney up to ninth on the ladder and still sporting a play-off chance, while Gold Coast remain in fourth.

New boy Makela was clearly jubilant after his goal-scoring appearance off the bench, saying his side will throw everything at snatching an unlikely finals place.

"It's been a tough season, but we are going to turn it around and have a go and do our best," he told Fox Sports.

Gold Coast captain Michael Thwaite praised Sydney's hunger on the field, but said his side needed to show focus to make sure of their top six place.

"The obvious difference is the hunger they showed, they were obviously more desperate in the final third, which is something we can work on," he said.

"We had a lot of changes, we've got a few players coming back, we'll see next week how we go, but we've got to regroup and gain some momentum for the finals."

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