Sydney FC has continued its A-League resurgence while adding to Queensland Roar's misery with a 3-0 victory at Aussie Stadium.

The Blues claimed their third straight win against a disappointing 10-man Roar which struggled to mount any challenge following the 20th minute sending off of captain Chad Gibson.

In a game which meandered through lengthy periods, Ufuk Talay's 23rd minute penalty and second half goals to Steve Corica and Robbie Middleby proved more than enough to send Sydney to second place on the ladder, one point ahead of Adelaide which plays Central Coast on Saturday.

Queensland, meanwhile, remain stagnant in fourth place with just one win in 10 games and five losses in its last six.

Having set the pace in the early rounds, Queensland will drop out of the top four for the first time this season if Perth wins or either Central Coast or Newcastle claim a point this weekend.

If all three remaining games in round 14 go against them, the Roar could find themselves as low as seventh come Sunday night.

Frank Farina's second game in charge had started brightly enough with the Roar holding their own in the opening exchanges.

That all changed in the 20th minute when Gibson was sent off.

He had only just received a yellow card two minutes earlier for time wasting, but was shown a straight red from referee Ben Williams for an ugly tackle on Terry McFlynn.

Farina barely had time to reshuffle his troops when goalkeeper Liam Reddy conceded a penalty 60 seconds later for a late challenge on Middleby.

Talay stepped up to complete the Roar's horror three minutes to the delight of the 12,718-strong crowd.

But Reddy, to his credit, redeemed himself over the next 10 minutes with three superb saves that kept Queensland in the game.

First, Reddy's fingertip effort pushed a deflected David Carney shot wide.

Then the 'keeper denied Steve Corica with a reflex save and finally thwarted Mark Milligan's powerful header with a diving stop.

He again rescued the Roar five minutes into the second half by palming away David Zdrilic's sharp low strike.

But in the 64th minute Reddy had no answer to Corica's fantastic header.

The veteran Sydney midfielder bolted into the area to head Middleby's cross with such force that Reddy could do nothing more than just gawk as the ball crashed into the net.

Middleby, arguably Sydney's best, polished off the victory with his first goal of the season in the 89th.

Damian Mori, signed by the Roar during the week after his eight-week stint at Central Coast, had limited chances to impress up front.

Sydney coach Terry Butcher was able to name an unchanged line-up for the first time this season.

After ending a five-game winless drought three weeks ago, Sydney's win capped a pleasing week for the club following confirmation it would play in next year's Asian Champions League.

"We just feel that a little bit of the luck and good fortune is turning our way now," said Butcher.

"Chad Gibson was a bit unlucky in that respect of being sent off ... but we had to make sure that we played well against 10 men and that's never easy.

"Their goalkeeper was outstanding ... but so was Robbie Middleby, he has been a different class in training and on the pitch, and he's the loveliest guy. If I had a daughter I'd let him marry my daughter."

Farina admitted Queensland's hopes of an upset died with Gibson's sending off, but did not want to place blame on the referee despite questioning a yellow card earlier handed to Talay for a similar challenge.

"Up until the 20th I thought it was going to be a good game, it was a good contest up until then but I think the red card killed the game," said Farina, still winless as an A-League coach after two games.

"There was a tackle just before that by Ufuk Talay which was two-foot over the ball. He got a yellow card for it.

"But Chad was silly, he'd just received a card in the 18th minute, he's one of the experienced players, he should know you don't dive in. So he's partially to blame as well."

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