The influence of Sydney's new defensively minded coach Graham Arnold is already obvious, with his team looking very solid in at the back. Victory has assembled one of the best attacking diamonds seen in the A-League with playmaker Guilherme Finkler feeding Archie Thompson and Ben Khalfallah out wide and Berisha looking to finish the work up front. But none could trouble Sydney's backline, where former Victory player Sebastian Ryall was excellent at right-back. That wasn't helped by the failure of Victory's Socceroos mid-field paring of Mark Milligan and Carl Valeri failing to impose themselves on the match. Neither player was able to find space to receive the ball from the backline thanks to Sydney's disciplined pressing, and both were cut up by Sydney's mid-fielders on the counter-attack. Serbian Milos Dimitrijevic meanwhile had an excellent game for Sydney in the mid-field, breaking up attacks, driving the team forward and generally controlling the game.

Victory struggled last year with a backline that continually leaked goals, and it would seem coach Kevin Muscat still has work to do. Right-back Jason Geria and central defender Adrian Leijer in particular, made a number of mistakes, Geria seeming to struggle with his footing on the uneven turf at South Hobart Stadium, although new defensive signing Matthieu Delpierre looked composed at centre-back. th minute goal. The central defender fluffed a clearance after an attack down the right flank, the ball landing at the Austrian striker's feet and Janko had no hesitation in putting it into the bottom corner of Nathan Coe's net. A few minutes later a Geria slip saw Janko find time and space in the box and the Austrian nearly doubled his team's lead, a sharp finish hitting the post and going out. Janko is a new signing at Sydney After the early goal, Arnold had his troops sit deep and try to defend the lead, attacking regularly on the counter.

th The 31-year-old Ben Khalfallah signed for Victory from French Ligue 2 side Troyes AC. He's still in need of match fitness but on this showing looks an impressive addition to Victory's already-potent forward line and was far more effective than the direct approach of Archie Thompson who he was subbed on for at half-time. The Tunisian was quick and made several intelligent runs, and most importantly showed great technical quality with several nicely hit passes and crosses. His draw-earning goal came entirely because of a Sydney error, with a slip by a Sydney defender allowing him to nick the ball and race towards Sydney keeper Ivan Necevski. But the finish – a neat sidestep to go round the on-rushing keeper before calmly rolling the ball into the back of the net – spoke of great composure. Club officials say Ben Khalfallah has impressed Victory's physios with his athleticism despite his advanced years and on this showing looks to add a dangerous new dimension to Victory's attack.