NEW DELHI: India under-23 staged a plucky display against three-time A-League winners Sydney FC who struck thrice to garner a hard-fought 3-0 win in a friendly played at Macquarie University Sports Field in Sydney on Tuesday.
The star-studded Sydney FC had to wait till the 37th minute to open the scoring from Brosquey before Adam Le Fondre doubled the gap within 6 minutes.
Indians were looking more threatening after the breather but a low strike from Trent Buhagiar in the 86th minute sealed the tie for the Sky Blues.
Coach Stephen Constantine rang as many as five changes to the starting eleven from the last match against APIA Tigers FC as Davinder Singh, Jerry Lalrinzuala, Isaac Vanmalsawma, Hitesh Sharma and Vinit Rai made way for Subhasish Bose, Salam Ranjan Singh, Nandha Kumar, Germanpreet Singh and Anirudh Thapa respectively.
As the coach predicted earlier, the hosts started dictating the game since the kick-off but their efforts were thwarted by the resilient Indian defence until the 37th minute when Brosquey headed a cross from Michael Zullo home.
Six minutes later, renowned English attacker, Adam Le Fondre found the back of the net from a close range to double the lead before the teams headed to the dressing room.
After the breather, Constantine tweaked in three changes in the form of Lallianzuala Chhangte, Vinit Rai and Manvir Singh withdrawing Nandha Kumar, Germanpreet Singh and Farukh Choudhary respectively to add sparks to the Indian attack
After the hour-mark, Ashique Kuruniyan came very close to break the deadlock but his firing shot went off the target. (UNI)
