A-League: Sydney 2 Brisbane 1

10 February 2013 09:14

Sydney FC have moved back into the A-League top six with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Brisbane Roar at Allianz Stadium.

Alessandro Del Piero gave the hosts the early lead with a brilliant individual goal seven minutes in before Besart Berisha equalised from the penalty spot in the 45th minute after Stefan Nijland was felled by Fabio.

Both sides created plenty of chances in a fiery start to the second half but it was young gun Peter Triantis who broke the deadlock with a thunderous 70th-minute strike.

Del Piero, who was brilliant throughout, curled a ball into the box, forcing a deflection from Roar defender James Donachie.

Triantis controlled the ball with his first touch before unleashing with his right foot and finding the bottom left corner of the net from the top of the penalty area.

The win lifts Frank Farina's men back into six for the first time since Round 4, while the Roar drop back to eighth spot with the loss.

A yellow card to returning skipper Brett Emerton was the only sour note for the Sky Blues, with the captain to miss next week's clash against Adelaide United.

Del Piero gave the hosts a dream start with a scything run and clinical finish in the seventh minute to send the crowd of 14,859 into a frenzy.

Blake Powell flicked the ball forward for the Italian maestro who changed direction twice to bamboozle defender Ivan Franjic before beating Michael Theo from close range.

The classy strike takes the veteran's season tally to 11 goals – a new club record.

Del Piero continued to cause the Roar problems, delivering a dangerous cross for Emerton who dragged his first touch wide of the target.

New recruit Nijland fired the visitors' first shot in anger on 15 minutes but Vedran Janjetovic made a comfortable save.

The Sky Blues custodian was back in action two minutes later when he tipped a close-range flick from Mitch Nichols over the bar.

The next chance for either side arrived in the form of a Brisbane penalty in the 45th minute after Fabio was ruled to have taken out Nijland with his right knee.

Berisha made no mistake with the spot-kick, hammering the ball into the top left corner to head into the break at 1-1.

The fiery Albanian almost made it a double in the 52nd minute, narrowly missing the target with a curling effort.

Nijland came even closer on the hour, his bending right-foot effort just shaving the far post before Triantis reclaimed the lead for the Sky Blues with his first A-League goal.