Six straight for Heart

The Melbourne Heart ended the calendar year on a high note as their sixth straight win cemented second spot on the ladder following a 4-0 crushing away win over Sydney FC in their 2011-12 Hyundai A-League clash on Thursday night.

Eli Babalj opened the scoring for the visitors just past the half hour mark and Mate Dugandzic doubled the Heart’s advantage with the easiest of finishes in first half stoppage time.

John van’t Schip’s side then ensured all three points when Jason Hoffman took advantage of a poor goalkeeping mistake from Liam Reddy in the 76^th minute.

However Reddy’s horror night took one more shocking twist when he fumbled the ball right in front of Alex Terra who slotted home the most comfortable goal in the 84^th minute.

The victory saw the Heart move to within two points of league leaders the Central Coast Mariners, whilst the Sky Blues suffered their biggest ever loss at the Sydney Football Stadium.

Heart coach John van’t Schip believes many key moments were due to his team’s speed which created several counterattacks which resulted in goals.

“We talk about it a lot if you want to have variation in your way of playing you have to keep possession but you also have to have depth in your game,” the Dutchman said at his after match media conference.”

“Especially in the transition, there are moments that we can hurt the opponents and that happened today.”

“After we struggled the first part we made a few changes in the formation … and we got more control over the game.”

Meanwhile new Sydney FC captain Brett Emerton was left scratching his head at the defeat especially as the home side dominated the early period of the game.

“If anyone should have been 2-0 up it should have been us at half-time,” Emerton told reporters afterwards.

“I don’t know how we’re sitting here losing that football match 4-0 because for me it was certainly the best first 45 minutes we’ve played this season.”

“It’s difficult to take. We’re all very disappointed and it’s going to be a test of character now for us.”

Sydney FC 0

Melbourne Heart 4 (Babalj 32; Dugandzic 45; Hoffman 76; Terra 84)