A late equaliser from Brisbane striker Kwame Yeboah has salvaged a 2-2 draw with Sydney FC in an entertaining National Youth League encounter at Allianz Stadium on Sunday.
A late equaliser from Brisbane striker Kwame Yeboah has salvaged a 2-2 draw with Sydney FC in an entertaining National Youth League encounter at Allianz Stadium on Sunday.
After a hard-fought opening hour in hot conditions that included a missed penalty attempt from the Sky Blues, the Roar broke the deadlock in the 61st minute via a Dong-Hyun Do header.
The hosts answered emphatically with goals to Tom Slater and Mitch Mallia in the 83rd and 89th minutes to take a 2-1 advantage before Yeboah’s injury-time strike denied Sydney victory.
The result sees the Roar consolidate fourth position on the ladder while the Sky Blues remain in ninth.
Brisbane had the better of the early exchanges but were unable to break the Sky Blues’ defence despite dominating territory and possession.
The hosts looked dangerous on the counterattack, finding the back of the net twice in the opening half-hour only to be denied both times for offside.
The Sky Blues made a bright start to the second half when Mallia won a penalty in the 53rd minute after a collision with Roar keeper Fraser Chalmers, who was issued a yellow card for his late challenge.
But Chalmers made amends when he guessed correctly and saved Jared Lum’s spot-kick low and to his right.
The Roar dodged another bullet four minutes later when defender Matthew Thurtell deflected Aaron Calver’s header off the line.
The hosts appealed for handball but referee Adrian Arndt wasn’t interested.
Brisbane took full advantage when Do slotted home a beautiful angled header off a deft free-kick from Kenneth Dougall to open the scoring on the hour.
Sydney came agonisingly close to the equaliser in the 80th minute when Chris Naumoff rattled the crossbar before Slater and Mallia both hammered home left-foot strikes to take the lead.
But Yeboah had the final say when he slotted in the equaliser off a clever cross from Corey Brown.
Sydney FC 2 (Slater 83, Mallia 89)
Brisbane Roar 2 (Do 61, Yeboah 90)
Sydney FC: 2. Keifer Dotti (Lukas Stergiou 45), 3 Aaron Calver, 5. Daniel Petkovski (c), 8. Mitchell Mallia, 9. Jordan Figon (Luke Clifford 59), 10. Christopher Naumoff, 11. Tom Slater, 14. Jared Lum, 16. Alec Urosevski, 17. Theo Kofinas (Roberto Speranza 45), 20. Anthony Bouzanis (Ryan Norval 45).
Brisbane Roar: 1. Fraser Chalmers, 3. Corey Brown (c), 6. Ross Archibald, 9. Benjamin Litfin (Alex Schiavo 55), 10. Kwame Yeboah, 11. Matthew Thurtell, 12. Dong Hyun Do, 13. Kenneth Dougall, 14. James Meyer, 15. Cameron Crestani (Sam Cronin 55), 18. Julius Doe (Patrick Thodore 55).
