Brendon Santalab scored the only goal of the game late on to secure a first home derby win for the Wanderers.
Substitute Santalab made his presence felt against his old club in the 86th minute when he chested down a flubbed shot from Youssouf Hersi then fired low underneath Sydney keeper Vedran Janjetovic to give the Wanderers all three points and Derby bragging rights.
The two teams walked out to witness a tifo display from the Red & Black Bloc, hundreds of flags waving through the entire home end, part of a crowd over 18,000 strong. The biggest notable absence from the Wanderers squad was Jerome Polenz through an injury concern picked up at training during the week. His replacement was 16 year old Daniel Alessi, a true baptism of fire for the young fullback having to make his debut in a derby.
The first big chance of the game fell to the boots of Del Piero, who took advantage of a good pass from Nikola Petkovic. The Italian superstar tried his usual trick of cutting back onto his right foot but Nikolai Topor-Stanley & Matthew Spiranovic were both aware to the danger and together blocked the shot and it dribbled to Ante Covic.
36 minutes in Mark Bridge scraped the paint off the far post, Bridge turned Pedj Bojic inside out and the Wanderers striker tried to curl a shot past Janjetovic, only to see the ball bounce out via the base of the post.
Right before half-time an extraordinary sequence of events somehow failed to see the Wanderers take the lead. Youssouf Hersi intercepted a poor pass from Marc Warren, then from near the edge of the center circle he launched a long distance lob over the scrambling Janjetovic. Striking the bar with a thud the rebound fell to the chest of Juric who inexplicably tried to blast the ball through the goal instead of a simple tap-in, and yet again the woodwork rattled to the amazement of the crowd. The last major event of the half was Iacopo La Rocca finally succumbing to an injury given to him from an atrocious tackle from Matt Jurman, La Rocca replaced by Jason Trifiro.
Spiranovic's immense game continued into the second half, after an hour Del Piero released Ranko Despotovic, who cut back inside, leaving Topor-Stanley stranded, it was Spiranovic to the rescue with a full length diving block to prevent any chance of a goal to Sydney.
The departure of Del Piero with 10 minutes to play saw the game turn fully into the hands of the Wanderers. It took until the 87th minute before their total dominance and superiority told on the scoreboard when Santalab popped up with the winner.
A deserved victory for the Western Sydney Wanderers, which combined with Adelaide defeating Brisbane earlier in the day sees the Wanderers cut the gap to the 1st placed Roar down to a mere 4 points, while extended their lead over Melbourne in 3rd to 6 points.
The Wanderers next match is on Tuesday the 14th of January, against Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park in Melbourne.
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