Melbourne Heart continue their search for an A-League victory after succumbing to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Sydney FC on home turf.

Sydney had the first glimpse of goal in the early stages of the match with Joel Chianese, who committed a surging run into the box to receive a swooping cross from the left. However, he failed to get on the end of it and the ball bounced out of play.

At the other end, the home side had a chance to break the deadlock after a threaded ball was played through to Michael Mifsud, who managed to free himself away from his marker but was ruled offside by the linesman.

Minutes later, Mifsud had another opportunity to get the opening goal. The ball was played over the top of the Sydney defence to find the forward, who controlled the ball and turned to take a shot towards goal, but his effort slammed right into the goalkeeper.

Following some pressure from the visiting side, Sydney were awarded a penalty when Rob Wielaert brought down Chianese in the box with a sliding tackle. Alessandro del Piero lined up to take the kick and managed to slot the ball into the bottom corner to give the away side a one-goal lead.

Shortly afterwards, Sydney were able to double their lead when the ball was played across goal to find Chianese in space on the right to knock the ball into the back of the net.

The home side started more positively in the second half by taking control of play and committing some promising attacks, but despite having early possession, Heart were unable to make the most of it.

Sydney had a strong chance to triple their lead through Chianese, who had the ball pulled back to him in the box and tried a shot towards goal with the side of his right foot, but it slammed into the side-netting.

While Heart created some half-chances as the game progressed, they were unable to make the most of their opportunities.

Written by
Danielle Joynson