Late goal sets up finals Big Blue

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SYDNEY FC's season will extend into the finals, but to say they travel more in hope than expectation might just be the understatement of the year.

Faced with a Perth side playing only with a holiday on their minds, Sydney scraped a 2-1 victory thanks to a goal from Richard Garcia with the last kick of the game. It was scarecely deserved, yet such is the tightness of the table that it allowed Sydney to climb above Adelaide to fifth.

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It means they must travel to Melbourne to face Victory on Friday night in the first semifinal. Paradoxically they might have preferred the trip to Gosford that was their fate until Garcia's late, late strike, but at least the goal gave them something, however fleeting, to take from a numbing display. In truth, the manner of their stagger over the finishing line won't inspire optimism against anyone if repeated in the finals.

Club legend Terry McFlynn enjoys his farewell. Source: Getty Images

FINALS FIXTURES

Melbourne Victory v Sydney FC

Friday night, 7.30pm EST

Etihad Stadium

Central Coast Mariners v Adelaide United

Saturday afternoon, 4.30pm EST

Central Coast Stadium

Last minute celebrations for Sydney FC. Source: Getty Images

No doubt the pitch made for heavy going, the centre rather oddly relaid after so much rain. But all the words that sprang to mind on viewing the Allianz surface - lumpen, boggy, erratic - could equally well have applied to a Sky Blue performance as disjointed as an Ikea flatpack assembled in the dark.

Though there were individual chances, almost none were the result of a collective move - Milos Dimitrijevic fashioned two decent shooting opportunites, both on the edge of the box, but volleyed one straight at Jack Duncan then screwed the second narrowly wide.

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No doubt the pitch played a part in the nervousness of players in possession on both sides, but even when the ball was airborne - as when William Gallas's long pass found Chris Harold loping into the Sydney box, only to sidefoot wide early in the game - the final touch was too often a letdown.

If Sydney's goal in the first half stood out like a crumb of gold on a hillside of cinders - Terry Antonis accepting a square pass from Del Piero and rifling home a shot from 20m - then Perth's equaliser rather summed up the mood.

It was also the last game for Jacob Burns. Source: Getty Images

With seconds to go before halftime, Vedran Janjetovic flapped at a corner and the ball more or less hit an unmarked Rostyn Griffiths six metres out and rolled into the Sydney goal.

Maybe the timing was particularly bad from Sydney's point of view, giving them the halftime break to stew on the concession, for remarkably the lack of endeavour became even more marked.

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It might have been a different second half had Alessandro Del Piero stabbed Abbas's fiercely driven centre either side of Duncan on 53 minutes, rather than close to him allowing the young Perth keeper to make a brilliant reflex save.

In the almost horrified reaction to the miss, could you see the nerves suffusing the home camp. It showed on the terraces, in the silence punctuated by cries of frustration, and on the pitch where Nikola Petkovic upbraided Antonis for not tracking back.

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When Petkovic promptly sent a square pass sailing over the head of his teammate Sasa Ornenovski and into touch darkened the mood still further. Twice in a minute Garcia gave possession away aimlessly with Del Piero well placed close by, prompting a look from the Italian to his teammate that could have curdled milk.

But finally, with seconds to go, Del Piero found his only killer touch of the night, lobbing Perth's square back four and sending Garcia away for an emphatic finish.

At least now Sydney can look to the memory of their 5-0 win over Victory on Australia Day for inspiration, for there is little to glean from the result that actually got them into the finals.

A magnificent tribute to Terry McFlynn. Source: Getty Images

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