R24 vs Sydney FC | Friday 17th July | 9.30pm

Still can't quite believe the boys are back in a few hours. That last game at the cake tin really felt like it would be our last for the season, farken fired up! 

Fudge I'm keen. Leshhgoooo

Confirmed that they are again. https://twitter.com/ALeague/status/1284005455434375168

International viewers in countries without a broadcasting rights holder can watch all the action LIVE on YouTube here ?

all aboard the Waine train.

12min before kick off! COYN!

Sydney full strength. We are missing 3 or 4 starters. First half just nned to stay in the game then release Hopper and Davilla for a second half blitz.

I recon Waine will make the most of this.

Anyone at the Churchill? Who were the football experts?

come on Phoenix!

Wait there are spectators?? For some reason I was expecting a game behind close doors like they do in europe at the moment...

That was gorgeous from Piscopo

Great movement from Louis, but missing Payne's crossing!

Handball all week

wtf!?! no VAR? did covid get them???

I miss VAR

shark that was beautiful from sydney. we are soo lucky

Nah good riddance.

we are looking short of ideas when playing it out from the back and end up playing the low percentage pass. We need to find our avenues to release the pressure or ball for us to move forward. 

SFC clearly the better side, we are chasing shadows.

have we got proper boots on? Lots of slipping and sliding 

Dull as pus. Sydney playing crowd the ball like kids football. 

Nix not clicking up front. Ben Waine out of his depth. Doesnt get a foot on the ball. Sydney are too clever for us at the moment. If we can hang on to half time, with Hoops and Davila coming on things might change 

Yeh- we need all the pieces of the puzzle, not quite there at the moment.

Still with the rust we are playing better than some Nix teams in previous times. 

that was lovely from reno

We were the better team. Sydney played horrible football, I'd rather not watch if that's the way to play. 

Couldn't see anything Piscopo did wrong there. 

Getting dragged back and the commentators claiming he was fouling. Heh

Yeah, rubbish, Ninkovic blatantly crumbled at the merest touch.

Pretty reasonable half from us I thought. You'd expect Sydney to have the best chances, they've got a lot of attacking weapons, but overall we looked OK.

For the first game in months with some key players on the bench, I thought it was a pleasing first half. I think the conservative play by both teams is due to the wet conditions.

Sydney had a couple of good shots, we made good chances but didn't get good shots off.

Could be the difference in a tight game.  Hopefully our second half attackers hit the 1 stat that counts. 

I f**ken hate Chris Beath.  By miles the worst referee in the A League and we always seem to get him.  He's made so many poor decisions both ways already and it's only half time.

On another note after watching boring Prem League footie with canned audience sound immediately before this match, it is so refreshing to hear real fans, players and coaches singing/shouting.

Great to have REAL FOOTBALL back.

Update: Great to see the Aussie commentators are still as one-eyed as ever.

dead set handball, arm is out front of the body, making himself larger than normal, ticks all the boxes. Oh wait no VAR and its Sydney!

gotta see Hoops and Davila on at half time. Waine off for Hoops, and Rufer for Davila.

Not a bad game all thing’s considered. First game for ages, wet skidding ball, difficult footing. We had a lot of joy down the right flank for the first 20 minutes. Fenton and Piscopo doing some good stuff then Sydney adjusted and closed that area down. We struggled a bit for penetration after that. Probably need to get Cacace and Ball working down the left. We are definitely still in this game. It will be interesting to see what happens with fatigue and substitutions. Can see this being a draw.

one eyed or not they are better than the NZ team, Ngata is dull as, Spoonley is carrying him.

both teams with short turn around till next game. Use of 5 subs is going to be very interesting in 2nd half.

Coach tactics could win it.

Gotta be pleased with that first half though all things considered. I'd happily take a point from a nil-nil against the best team in the league, even if it's been a pretty dull game so far

Mcowatt on for Waine.

Sydney just toying with us atm, cant see us staying in the top 6 for much longer.