A Roy Krishna double has helped Wellington Phoenix inflict Sydney FC’s second defeat in a row at Kogarah on Saturday.
More than 10,000 fans made their way to Jubilee Oval to see the Sky Blues lose their second consecutive home match in the St George district this season after their 2-1 ‘Big Blue’ loss to Melbourne Victory last month.
Sydney FC were looking to score their seventh consecutive victory over Wellington as the reigning A-League premiers attempted to keep pace with league leaders Perth Glory.
But Krishna finished off a huge week in style, having become Wellington’s all-time leading goal scorer and gained New Zealand citizenship, scoring twice before the half-hour mark to stun Sydney.
A Steven Taylor header gave the visitors a 3-0 advantage at half-time before Michael Zullo’s late consolation for Sydney.
Former Sydney FC captain and now Wellington boss Mark Rudan’s team were deserved winners. Sky Blues boss Steve Corica sent on Dutch marquee Siem de Jong at half-time but Sydney FC were unable to launch what would have been a stunning comeback.
Sarpreet Singh’s perfect through pass split Jop van der Linden and Zullo to send Krishna through on goal to open the scoring for Wellington after 20 minutes.
The Fijian-born striker had a second on the half-hour mark, this time from Madni’s pass before he powered past Zullo to slot home.
Wellington were 3-0 up seven minutes before the break when, after a corner had broken down, Liberato Cacace whipped in a cross onto Taylor’s head for the centre half to head home past Andrew Redmayne after brushing off van der Linden
Phoenix had silenced the home crowd, with Zullo’s volley with one minute remaining in normal time too little, too late as Sydney FC suffered a deflating defeat.
The Sky Blues will look to bounce back against Western Sydney Wanderers in their second Sydney derby of the season at ANZ Stadium next Saturday night.
Sydney FC return to Kogarah when they host Brisbane Roar on December 29.
Leader Scoreboard
Wellington Phoenix 3 (Roy Krishna ‘21, ‘30, Steven Taylor ‘38)
defeated
Sydney FC 1 (Michael Zullo ‘89)
at Jubilee Oval, Kogarah
Crowd: 10, 101