Sydney FC began their 2015-16 pre-season campaign with an emphatic 7-0 win over Earlwood Wanderers at Leichhardt Oval.

Sydney FC 7 (Smeltz 8’, 29’, Calver 27’, Mullen 38’, Naumoff 60’,66’, Lokoli-Ngoy 64’) beat Earlwood Wanderers 0

A strong side Sky Blues opened the scoring in the 8th minute from the spot through skipper for the day Shane Smeltz, after Naumoff had been brought down.

Nearly 20 minutes passed when Naumoff combined with Aaron Calver to give the young centre half his first goal for the Sky Blues senior team with a well taken header.

Two minutes later Smeltz made it three with a scrambled effort as Sydney FC led at the interval. Trialist Alex Mullen slotted a fourth just after the restart before Naumoff finally got on the scoresheet with two well taken efforts late on.

Sydney FC youth player Charles Lokoli-Ngoy capped an encouraging performance with a fine solo goal.

What They Said

Steve Corica: “We were pleased with the result, we’ve been back a week training now so it’s a vital hit out leading into the FFA Cup in two weeks time.

“The longer we went on the better we looked. I thought the new boys and the triallists did well. Brandon O’Neill, Riley Woodcock and Andrew Hoole did well and looked dangerous at times but there’s a long way to go with those boys because that’s their first hit out and we haven’t worked with them tactically yet but I was happy overall.”

Goals

8’ SMELTZ PENALTY – Naumoff plays a one-two with Smeltz and is brought down on the edge of the box. Skipper Smeltz slots home the ball to keepers left as he dived right, in front of the Keith Barnes Stand.

27’ CALVER GOAL – Aaron Calver reaches the by-line and crosses to the far post to Naumoff. The young attacker steadies himself to shoot but the keeper makes a fine block. However his parry only allows Naumoff to pick the ball up again and cross to Calver who is waiting to bullet home a header from 8 yards.

29’ SMELTZ GOAL – A ball played into the box falls at the feet of the clinical striker who wastes no time in firing home.

38’ MULLEN GOAL – Stambolziev nudges the ball inside the full back to triallist Alex Mullen and the striker wraps his left foot around the ball to steer it home into the far corner from 16 yards.

60’ NAUMOFF GOAL – The ball is played across edge of the box to Naumoff who dances past two challenges & slides the ball home for a fifth.

64’ LOKOLI-NGOY GOAL – Lokoli-Ngoy runs at the Earlwood defence and takes on a number of defenders before his powerful shot is deflected home.

66’ NAUMOFF GOAL – Naumoff breezes past the defence on the right to slide a left foot shot into the corner.

Team News

Sydney FC 7 (Smeltz 8’, 29’, Calver 27’, Mullen 38’, Naumoff 60’,66’, Lokoli-Ngoy 64’) beat Earlwood Wanderers 0

Ground: Leichhardt Oval

Attendance: 350

Referee: Chris Young

Assistant Coach Steve Corica took charge with Head Coach Graham Arnold away at the Hyundai A-League coaches seminar in Melbourne. He handed the captaincy to striker Shane Smeltz with Alex Brosque watching from the stands. Andrew Hoole, Brandon O’Neill and Riley Woodcock all made their first starts for the club with new signing Zac Anderson on the bench.

Sydney FC: 20. Vedran JANJETOVIC (12. Anthony BOUZANIS 35’), 2. Seb RYALL (35. Yianni PERKATIS 35’), 5. Matt JURMAN (4. Zac ANDERSON 46’), 7. Andrew HOOLE (38. Alex MULLEN 35’), 8. Robert STAMBOLZIEV, 9. Shane SMELTZ (39. Charles LOKOLI-NGOY), 11. Christopher NAUMOFF, 13. Brandon O’NEILL, 16. Riley WOODCOCK, 23. Rhyan GRANT, 25. Aaron CALVER.

Earlwood Wanderers FC: 1. Samuel THORNE, 2. Foday KAMARA, 3. Oli SUTESKI, 4. Lincoln CHARLES, 5. Lahai TENGBEH, 6. Vanny KANNEH, 7. Anthony CLINOFF, 8. Dean BEREVESKOS, 9. Kosta NIKAS, 10. Addison SAYAN, 11. Amaury GAUTHIER, 12. Pietro NIGRO, 13. Jason DA SILVA, 14. Elia TRITSARIS, 15. Anthony CHARBEL, 16. Scott MCGRAW, 17. Andrew PIRRILLO, 18. Peter KOFINAS.

Sydney FC Memberships are now on sale for the Hyundai A-League season 2015/16. Click HERE to become part of the Sky Blues family