Hat-trick hero Al Hassan Toure has inspired Sydney FC to a 4-1 comeback win over Newcastle.
After the Jets’ Ben Gibson opened the scoring in the eighth minute, Toure responded in the 11th, before turning the contest in Sydney’s favour with goals in the 51st and 58th minutes.
Toure, who returned to the A-League Men after stints in Turkey, France and the United States, claimed his first three goals since joining Sydney.
The older brother of Socceroos and Randers striker Mohamed Toure and Randers youngster Musa Toure has had mixed fortunes since he burst on to the scene with Adelaide United in 2019.
“I’d probably say it’s one of my best games ever,” Toure told Paramount Plus.
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“Never scored a hat-trick before, so it’s good, but it was a good team performance and I’m happy to get the three points.”
Toure, who has had a rough recent injury history, appeared to cramp up while celebrating his third goal and was substituted, but said he was just tired.
“I was feeling a bit of pain, but I got the three goals before they took me off, so I’m happy,” he said.
Patrick Wood capped off Sydney’s day by scoring off the bench in the 74th minute at McDonald Jones Stadium.
It was a tough day out for the error-ridden Jets, who always looked second-best on Saturday.
Newcastle’s day went from bad to worse when Oscar Fryer suffered a non-contact left knee injury, with immediate fears for his ACL.
The 19-year-old has previously undergone a knee reconstruction.
Sydney peppered the goal before Newcastle struck against the run of play when Daniel Wilmering found Gibson, who turned and lashed the ball past Harrison Devenish-Meares.
The Sky Blues responded when Jets skipper Kosta Grozos lost the ball in midfield and it spilled to Toure, who burst forward, faked a pass then lashed a wonderful strike home.
Sydney took the lead when Victor Campuzano won the ball in midfield and streamed forward.
He worked the ball out to Toure on the left and the attacker took a touch then drove it into the bottom corner.
For Toure’s third, Joe Lolley pounced on a poor pass from the Jets defence and put the foot down before slipping the ball out wide to Toure.
He took a touch, then nutmegged Jets goalkeeper James Delianov.
Newcastle spurned their chances, and when Delianov could only parry a save into the path of Wood, the striker iced the victory.
Sydney FC face Macarthur next Sunday, while Newcastle will lick their wounds before facing Brisbane away the same day.
Hectic draw for Bulls
Macarthur FC coach Mile Sterjovski is confident the Bulls can manoeuvre through a jam-packed fixtures and get results in both their A-League Men and Asian Champions League 2 campaigns.
The Bulls have played three games in nine days and that will extend to five in 17 days with upcoming matches against Cong An Hanoi FC on Thursday, then Sydney FC next Sunday.
Macarthur have one win, one draw and one loss in the ALM and have the same record in ACL 2.
With Dean Bosnjak sidelined for the next two-to-three weeks and Chris Ikonomidis (ankle) out for potentially another six, the Bulls’ depth will be tested.
“It’s gonna be hard making the decisions on who should play, trying to balance – we’ve got two very important games,” Sterjovski said after Saturday night’s 1-1 draw with Western Sydney.
“So we’ve just got to take it as it goes, see how the boys pull up and make the right decisions for each game.
“It’s definitely not easy but we’ll do everything we can to make sure we do the right things by the players and put the right kind of sessions on and make sure they recover in the right way, just to give them every chance to back up.
“From now until Thursday, obviously we have a bit more time and we can do things a bit differently
“But the turnaround from Thursday night to Sunday against Sydney, that’s going to be the tricky one and hoping that we get that right, with the right players.”
The international break follows the Sydney game which could give Sterjovski licence to push some players.
Sterjovski expects to lean on experienced players like Luke Brattan and Tomi Uskok to take on heavy work loads.
“They’ve been part of a lot of situations in football and having to backup playing midweek and then on the weekend a few times in a row – I think they’re capable of doing it,” he said.
“Their bodies are used to it, they’re definitely players that I look to be able to do that for our team and for our squad.”
Liam Rose limped off in the 77th minute but Sterjovski was hopeful his injury wasn’t serious.
“I think we’re gonna get him scanned but it doesn’t seem too bad from what he says,” Sterjovski said.
But the Bulls coach is happy to back the depth he has in his squad.
“At the moment we’re being tested but it gives others an opportunity,” he said.
“It gives the young boys especially an opportunity to see what they’ve got, see if they can step up – and I don’t mind that as well.”
WHAT A START – A goal within 90 seconds ????
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Harrison Sawyer heads home to get @mfcbulls off to the perfect start against the Wanderers ????
Watch #MACvWSW live on 10 Drama, and stream live on Paramount+ ???? pic.twitter.com/8KWasAZ4X6
Auckland win soured by Sakai strain
Auckland FC coach Steve Corica has already ruled out Hiroki Sakai of the New Zealand derby after the captain injured his hamstring in a 2-1 victory over Adelaide United.
The Black Knights lost defensive stalwart Sakai to injury early on Saturday, but Louis Verstraete stood tall to score the 79th-minute match-winner at Go Media Stadium.
Reds youngster Luka Jovanovic had levelled the scores in the 45th minute, after Sam Cosgrove put the hosts ahead in the 26th minute.
Last year’s premiers, Auckland remain undefeated to start the season after two wins and one draw ahead of next Saturday’s derby against Wellington Phoenix at Sky Stadium.
Corica doesn’t yet know the extent of Sakai’s injury, but isn’t expecting the defender to be fit and firing within a week.
Sakai had hurt his left hamstring in the 12th minute while chasing for the ball in Adelaide’s box.
“He won’t be ready for next week, 100 per cent,” Corica said.
“And then we got the international week after that – depending, maybe after that, he might be fine.”
Meanwhile, the ninth-placed Reds (1-0-2) are left searching for their second win under new coach Airton Andrioli after suffering two straight defeats.
Adelaide had lost 2-1 away to Macarthur FC on Monday.
“Obviously, I (also) said this last week – disappointed with the result,” Andrioli said.
“We controlled the second half. They didn’t have many chances, and in one moment of lapse of concentration, we conceded the goal, and we lost the game.”
Callan Elliot replaced Sakai before Cosgrove finally lived up to the hype after beating Ethan Alagich to find the opener with a header.
The former Plymouth and Aberdeen striker was touted as Auckland’s solution in attack after arriving in the off-season from League One outfit Barnsley.
A raucous home crowd was then silenced in the 45th minute when Reds youngster Jovanovic ousted three defenders to draw level with Auckland.
Jovanic continued to cause trouble after halftime, combining with Jonny Yull to pepper at goal.
Dominating possession, the Reds looked poised to take the lead after Auckland midfielder Verstraete gave away a free kick for fouling opposition captain Craig Goodwin in the 77th minute.
Goodwin delivered a class kick into the box, but it was Elliot who connected with the ball first.
A lapse in Adelaide’s defence allowed Auckland back into the game, with Ryan White giving away possession to Francis De Vries.
Guillermo May superbly played the Reds defence for time and set up Jesse Randall, whose shot went thundering into the post.
A quick-thinking Verstraete found redemption by burying the ball home for the lead.
Newshttps://https://ift.tt/l7VubNc de force as Sydney sink Jets, tough road for Bulls after Wanderers draw, Auckland win soured by star’s injury
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