Sydney FC 2 Adelaide United 0: Ghoochannejhad and Devlin close gap at summit

Sydney FC moved back to within five points of A-League leaders Perth Glory with a 2-0 win over Adelaide United, as Reza Ghoochannejhad and Cameron Devlin got their first goals in the division.

Dropping points in three of their previous five league games had seen Sydney fall well behind the Glory, but they did just enough against fourth-placed Adelaide, who failed to win for a fourth successive match.

It took Sydney 15 minutes to break their visitors’ resistance and they did so in style – Ghoochannejhad letting Rhyan Grant’s pass fly past him to Adam Le Fondre, who subsequently released the Iranian in behind the defence and he slotted home coolly.

Ghoochannejhad almost got a second soon after, seeing a shot from just inside the box come back off the post.

Adelaide went agonisingly close to levelling just before the break, but George Blackwood’s chipped shot was cleared off the line by Alex Wilkinson.

Sydney eventually wrapped things up deep into second-half stoppage time, catching Adelaide on the break and Devlin finished with aplomb after being released by Brandon O’Neill.

Glory will look to restore their eight-point cushion away to Melbourne City on Sunday.

FULL TIME | 2-0 | A late goal to Devlin seals the win for @SydneyFC.#ALeague #SYDvADL pic.twitter.com/PYZvom7JnX

— Hyundai A-League (@ALeague) March 1, 2019