It was always going to be one of those days when Seo managed to lose the ball between his feet after only five minutes and the ball fell perfectly for Corica to put Sydney ahead.

The Roar’s start to the season hasn’t been great but Sydney – the pre-season favourites – has been a lot worse so gifting them a goal, complete with a ribbon attached, so early in the game meant the Roar were always playing catch up.

The first half performance was probably the worst half of football that Queensland has played all season. Missing McKay (suspended) and with Richter and Brosque on the bench, there was a complete lack of creativity.

Sydney could have gone two up only a minute after Corica’s goal when David Carney saw his shot well saved by Willis.

The Roar had to wait until the 18^th minute before they had a meaningful chance and then Dilevski failed to trouble the keeper.

Bleiberg’s decision to have Richter on the bench and hand Royce Brownlie his second start was exposed when he brought Richter on for Brownlie after only 36 minutes. The substitution almost paid immediate dividends when Richter was sent clear only for a good tackle to halt him in his tracks.

Sydney came out hard in the second half and Buess cleared off the line before the Roar went straight down the other end and grabbed an equalizer through an own goal from Timpano under pressure from Baird.

The momentum was all with Queensland now with Richter and Brosque (who came on for Warren Moon) at the forefront of most moves. Baird shot straight at the keeper on 55 minutes after good work from Richter, then Richter also shot straight at Bolton after meeting a whipped in cross from Brosque. A minute later Bolton also saved well, at full stretch, from Richter.

Unfortunately Sydney took the lead against the run of play on the 67^th minute when a cross from Talay was punched clear by Willis only as far as Corica who returned it with interest to grab his second of the game and restore Sydney’s lead.

Sydney made it three through Terry McFlynn only five minutes later when Willis took a quick free kick looking for Dodd and only found a Sydney player. Despite the defence rushing back McFlynn was able to easily chip over Willis.

Bleiberg went for all out attack bringing Tollenaere on for Dodd and Queensland continued to create chances – Baird forcing a save from Bolton with a fine header and Brosque denied by the save of the game on full time after his 30 yard shot was tipped over.

The result flattered Sydney but exposed Queensland’s problems – failing to put away chances.

Match Ratings

Atmosphere:   8            Excellent crowd, excellent atmosphere – especially when we were behind.

Crowd:             8          Disappointed that there was no record attendance but it is good to see that the fans are still turning up.

Tannoy bloke:   2          Back to his old ways of trying to gee the crowd up during the game.

Roary:              5          Didn’t pay him much attention

Result:              0          Poor finishing and mistakes cost us the game

Referee:            7          A good performance, especially after last week.

Team Ratings

Willis                5          Made a complete hash of the third goal, not just with passing to the opposition but was poorly positioned to allow the chip. Made several good saves earlier though.

McCloughan     7          Dealt with Yorke well

Gibson            7          Accomplished on the ball as usual – made a few good runs upfield. Man of the Match

Buess               6          Quietly effective, good deliveries going forward

Dodd               6          Steady performance

Dilveski            6         

Murdocca        6          The game was lost in midfield and Murdocca lacked his usual creativity

Moon               6          Failed to get involved.

Hyuk-Su Seo   6          Failed to deal with the midfield threat

Baird                6          Work rate was impressive again but failed to take a chance

Brownlie           5          Worked hard but appears to lack the ability at this level.

Substitutes

Richter             7          The team looked a lot more potent with him on the pitch.

Brosque           7          Added much needed creativity and was unlucky not to score in the last minute

Tollenaere        6          Not given much chance to shine and barely touched the ball while he was on

The big spenders are in town for the Friday night game and things are not looking good for them. An opening day draw with Melbourne followed by a win in New Zealand has been followed by back to back defeats and has left them in 6^th place on the table.

Their key player is undoubtedly Dwight Yorke. The main marquee player in the A-League has enjoyed a good start to the season with three goals from as many games and is certainly living up to his reputation. He has also been involved in a lot Sydney’s attacking play and created their first goal against the Central Coast almost from nothing.

Yorke will likely to be playing alongside club captain David Zrdilic fresh from Europe and such clubs as Walsall and Aberdeen. Despite bagging eight goals in the World Club Championship Qualifiers, he has not had a good start to the season.

Also fresh from Walsall is Steve Corica although he can rightly claim to a little more success in Europe than Zdrilic from a four year stint at perennial sleeping giants (ok comatose) Wolves. He should return to the side following his suspension for being sent off against Newcastle. He has won 29 caps for Australia

Ufuk Talay is a creative midfielder who will look to profit from Corica’s holding position and push up front as much as possible. Labelled “the greatest player never to play for Australia” by Josip Skoko, he has returned from eight years in Turkey with Galatasaray, Buraspor and, for the last two years, Gaziantespor.

In goal is likely to be Clint Bolton, who should be well known to Queenslanders following his seven years with the Strikers.

The defence will probably comprise Iain Fyfe and Mark Rudan at centre back. Rudan  is an experienced defender who has played in Germany with Aachen as well as China and Malaysia. Fyfe is a young prospect who spent a year with Hamilton Academicals in Scotland although he only managed 15 appearances.

Alongside Corica and Talay in the midfield will be Matt Bingley, who has already appeared on the scoresheet against NZ. He is an experienced NSL player playing for, amongst others, Marconi, Perth Glory and Newcastle. He has also had two years in Japan with Vissel Kobe.

One of Syndey’s young prospects is David Carney who returns to Australia from the UK where he had spells with Everton, Oldham and Hamilton Academicals

Season To Date

Rd 1 (H) vs Melbourne Victory            D 1-1   Att: 25,208

Rd 2 (A) vs NZ Knights                       W 3-1  Att: 9,827

Rd 3 (A) vs Newcastle Jets                  L 2-1   Att: 9,127

Rd 4 (H) vs CC Mariners                     L 3-2   Att: 15,614

Leading Scorer: Dwight Yorke (3)