Win that, and they play Adelaide in the semifinals.<\/p>\n
Although Auckland fell short, their second-half performance will be a much-needed tonic after a difficult few weeks.<\/p>\n
That period was played at finals-like intensity and Auckland responded to the pressure with their comeback. They could have won, with Sam Cosgrove agonisingly close to scoring a few minutes before May\u2019s equaliser. <\/p>\n
The senior players stood up for Auckland, led by Dan Hall and Louis Verstraete, while May was superb as a second-half substitute.<\/p>\n
Auckland fell behind in the 56th minute to Ben Garuccio\u2019s strike, at a time when the home side had all the momentum. But the Black Knights equalised 10 minutes later, after May reacted quickest to a Cosgrove flick-on. <\/p>\n
However, Sydney FC restored their lead through Alexandar Popovic and looked to have sealed their first victory over the New Zealand club, before May\u2019s late intervention.<\/p>\n
The first half was cagey and cautious, no surprise given the two teams had the best defensive records in the A-League. Auckland struggled to assert themselves \u2013 particularly in possession \u2013 and couldn\u2019t make many inroads. <\/p>\n
They had just two shots in the first half and failed to test Sydney goalkeeper Harrison Devenish-Meares. Indeed, they had only five touches in the opposition penalty area before the break, as the home defence was effective in shutting down any threats.<\/p>\n
Auckland also lost central midfielder Felipe Gallegos midway through the half with a hamstring strain, replaced by Cam Howieson.<\/p>\n
Sydney created considerably more. Garuccio was the closest, finding his way past three defenders, but his angled shot slammed against the crossbar, before Michael Woud got down well to save the follow-up effort from Tiago Quintal.<\/p>\n
Auckland would have been satisfied with the halftime score \u2013 as a platform to launch \u2013 but their plans unravelled in the 56th minute with Garuccio\u2019s shot from outside the area. It wasn\u2019t the cleanest strike but was perfectly placed through a couple of defenders and past Woud, who was wrongfooted.<\/p>\n
Lachlan Brook then lifted a free kick from a handy position just over the bar, as Auckland looked to get back into the match. That was a warning sign, before Auckland\u2019s equaliser in the 67th minute.<\/p>\n
It came \u2013 like so many this season \u2013 from a set piece as Callan Elliott hurled in a long throw. Cosgrove got the flick-on, before an unmarked May cleverly directed his header back across the grain, though Sydney will wonder about their positioning.<\/p>\n
Auckland then enjoyed a sustained positive period, though Jesse Randall failed to back himself when his pace carved out an opening. Sydney came again, with a series of dangerous moments. That pressure told with their second goal, as Popovic forced home from a sharp corner routine, escaping Hall.<\/p>\n
That seemed the killer strike but Auckland showed courage. Cosgrove was inches away from converting a Randall cross at the far post, before May\u2019s equaliser. <\/p>\n
It was a brilliant move. Randall\u2019s acceleration took him to the byline, with his cross headed on by Howieson. Substitute Liam Gillion then showed remarkable composure in the circumstances, looping the ball back in for May to send a thumping header into the back of the net.<\/p>\n
Sydney FC 2 (Ben Garuccio 56\u2019, Alexandar Popovic 85\u2019)<\/p>\n
Auckland FC 2 (Guillermo May 67\u2019, 89\u2019)<\/p>\n
Halftime: 0-0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Win that, and they play Adelaide in the semifinals. Although Auckland fell short, their second-half performance will be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398773,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[192557,51,1863,16772,40671,7491,23966,120506,26845,15124,71,45432,51312,78,4507,48053,22315,111,139,2551,5006,69,8466,23554,213,15412,10809,1734,61,17251,3007,102],"class_list":["post-398772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-90th","tag-auckland","tag-back","tag-character","tag-draw","tag-earn","tag-enough","tag-equaliser","tag-fc","tag-fight","tag-from","tag-goals","tag-guillermo","tag-in","tag-late","tag-lock","tag-minute","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-night","tag-not","tag-nz","tag-second","tag-showed","tag-sports","tag-spot","tag-sunday","tag-sydney","tag-to","tag-twice","tag-vs","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}