Alessandro Del Piero injury fears as Sydney FC stay bottom
Italian superstar Alessandro Del Piero came off with a hamstring injury as Sydney FC remained at the bottom of Australia's A-League after firing blanks in a scoreless home draw with Melbourne Heart on Sunday.
- Agence France-Presse
- Updated: December 02, 2012 02:40 PM IST
Italian superstar Alessandro Del Piero came off with a hamstring injury as Sydney FC remained at the bottom of Australia's A-League after firing blanks in a scoreless home draw with Melbourne Heart on Sunday.
Playmaker Del Piero looked disconsolate after he was substituted with 20 minutes left with club officials describing it as a precautionary measure due to his troublesome hamstrings.
Del Piero missed a couple of matches earlier in the season with hamstring problems.
New coach Frank Farina got a glimpse of the job ahead as Sydney FC were held 0-0 by Melbourne Heart in Sunday's bottom-of-the-table match at home.
The Sky Blues at least snapped a four-game losing streak but neither side was able to capitalise on a handful of chances in front of 12,425 fans.
Central Coast Mariners took over the competition lead after beating Adelaide 2-1 in Saturday's top of the table match in Gosford.
Former Sheffield United midfielder Nick Montgomery scored the winner 14 minutes from fulltime as the Mariners finished off the come-from-behind win to keep their perfect home record intact for the season.
Melbourne Victory moved to third spot after a Marco Rojas goal capped a 1-0 win over Perth Glory in Melbourne.
Rojas' classy second-half goal continued an excellent season for the New Zealand winger as the Victory made it four wins and a draw from their past five games.
Two players were sent off as defending champions Brisbane Roar downed Newcastle Jets 1-0 in Brisbane.
Brisbane's German star Thomas Broich and Jets central defender Josh Mitchell were shown red cards after a melee five minutes after Roar's Albanian striker Besart Berisha converted a penalty for what proved the winning goal.
Wellington Phoenix continued to build momentum with a 1-0 win over Western Sydney Wanderers in Wellington on Sunday to climb three places to fifth on the standings after nine rounds.