A-League leaders Sydney FC played for 65 minutes with 10 men but rallied to beat second-placed Melbourne City 2-1 on Sunday.
Kosta Barbarouses struck late on to extend Sydney s advantage at the summit to nine points, settling a more sedate second half after a gripping first period that featured two goals, a red card and a missed penalty.
That frantic spell was kickstarted by the City opener in the 22nd minute as a short corner from the right saw Craig Noone send a cross towards the back post to Connor Metcalfe, who thundered a header past Andrew Redmayne.
Sydney quickly suffered a second blow when Rhyan Grant was sent off for an awful studs-up challenge into the shins of Nathaniel Atkinson, which was initially punished only with a yellow card before the referee reassessed the incident on the pitchside monitor.
. FT | 10-men? No worries!
We win our 9th home game in a row and go 9 points clear courtesy of goals to !!
— Sydney FC (@SydneyFC)
However, the hosts were level following a scramble in the area when Tom Glover failed to deal with a deep free-kick, allowing Adam Le Fondre to finally slam past Harrison Delbridge on the line.
Noone missed a huge chance when through one-on-one at the other end, before Le Fondre was granted the opportunity to double his and Sydney s tally from the penalty spot.
But Glover s right leg blocked a powerful 12-yard drive after Delbridge was punished for halting Milos Ninkovic s tricky run into the City area.
Sydney were subsequently on the back foot for much of the second half, yet Scott Galloway allowed Barbarouses to cut inside and shape a fine left-footed finish into the bottom-left corner with six minutes remaining to secure a ninth straight home league win.
