City Fightback For Vital Draw

[mack]

The Western Sydney Wanderers and Melbourne City faced up in Parramatta for a match that could potentially determine the Premiership race for the 2024/25 A-League Season, playing out a 2-2 draw as the Wanderers scored two early then City hit back with two and a huge shift in momentum in the second half.

Melbourne City needed a win to stay in with a chance of overtaking the new kids on the block Auckland FC, while a Wanderers win would secure a maiden Kiwi Premiership, mirroring the Wanderers run in their inaugural season all those years ago. Three points for the Wanderers would also give them a huge chance of finishing in the vital 2nd position on the ladder, and would extend their unbeaten run to a double digit 10 games without loss.

The major news coming out of the two teams was the loss of midfielder Joshua Brillante for the Wanderers, an apparent hamstring strain that meant Dean Pelekanos made his 5th start of his A-League career as Juan Mata continued his impact sub role off the bench. City suffered another injury with star attacker Mathew Leckie ruled out with a hamstring issue of his own.

Melbourne City had the opening chance of the game, a fast break where Nicolas Milanovic lost the ball trying his classic cut back move onto to lose the ball, City sprung forward with Max Caputo on the end of a through ball with his first time shot turned away for a corner by the foot of Lawrence Thomas. Caputo had another chance minutes later following a rebounded strike that he couldn't get past the cover defence. Sapsford broke on a counter-attack on his own from halfway to the edge of the City area but his shot was tame and easily saved.

Milanovic continued his brilliant form by scoring one and creating a second. An incredible diagonal ball from Anthony Pantazopoulos found the Gabriel Cleur one out with Aziz Behich, the fullback using his strength to retain possession in a challenge, found Milanovic and after holding off Behich he had space in front to aim on his golden left foot, curling the ball past the static defence and the flying goalkeeper at the far post.

3 minutes later and Milanovic tore the City defence to shreds, making it 2-0 and despite not being awarded the goal he was certainly the cause of it. This time he began the attack by beating Kai Trewin to find room in the box, gave Behich an NBA style ankle-breaker to put the ball on his right foot and his cross into the middle for Sapsford was kicked by Trewin right between the legs of Patrick Beach the hapless City keeper.

Cleur was throw into the referee's notebook in the 17th minute, a full blooded challenge where Cleur came across and clearly took the ball, his City opponent falling in fake agony after not being touched and having tripped over Cleur. A Wanderers corner almost turned into the 3rd goal in the 25th minute, a long curler to the far post that beat Beach and the City defence to find Borrello who couldn't get under it properly and somehow missed making contact from point-blank range.

City came back into the match around the half-hour mark, Marco Tilio & Caputo combining for a run to the edge of the 6 yard box. Thomas smartly engaged forward but not far enough to get dribbled around, blocking the shot out for a corner. Unfortunately for the Wanderers that corner ended up in the back of the net, a routine with Trewin stretching the laws of the game to the maximum to get away from his marker Cleur, there was no-one on the back post and Thomas was deceived by the flight, it left no-one to attack the ball and clear it, and Trewin struck a simple header down into the net to bring it back to 2-1 ten minutes from half-time.

The Wanderers held off City pressure in the three minutes of stoppage time, with both sides getting antsy after a series of midfield challenges and calls not going their way. Eventually they headed into the sheds with the match delicately poised in favour of the home team. City continued their good chances, Steven Ugarkovic getting on the end of a free kick in a contest with Bozhidar Kraev and for a moment it looked like the former Wanderer might get over the top of the big Bulgarian striker, the ball eventually deflected out for a goal kick.

The typical hour mark substitutions came from both teams. Aydan Hammond on for Sapsford & Lawrence Wong on for City with Andreas Kuen departing. The wanderers finally regained a foothold in the 69th minute after compressing under yet more City pressure. Milanovic had a chance from a through ball by Pelekanos, the save eventually popped up to Gabriel Cleur who hammered a right foot strike wide of goal.

Wong found himself in the notebook as well after he chopped down Cleur from behind as he was about to cross into the box, giving the Wanderers a chance for Milanovic almost certain to shoot directly for goal, and he did so, up and over the wall but placed perfectly for Beach to stop the shot without barely having to move his feet. Aurelio Vidmar made three more subs in the 77th minute, Callum Talbot, Medin Memeti & Kavian Rahmani on with the dangerous Tilio, Caputo the scorer and Yonatan Cohen making way. Alen Stajcic introduced Mo Al-Taay for Pelekanos, who was immense in the midfield during the first half in particular. Stajcic made his final sub in the 84th minute, Milanovic getting a standing ovation for his work putting the Wanderers ahead with Marcus Antonsson on to play up front.

Seconds after the sub City were handed a Premiership life line from the penalty spot, a soft trip from Pantazopoulos with Trewin up against Thomas, who dived the right way, got his body in the way but allowed the ball to squeeze under his body and drizzle into the net to level the scores with 5 to play. Talbot was booked after dragging down Gersbach to prevent him running into the box, the 92nd minute free kick ending in the stands after Al-Taay & Pantazopoulos couldn't find a clear sight of goal. The home team got another free kick and yellow card to Nathaniel Atkinson for a handball that blocked a run from Antonsson.

This free kick came in from Gersbach again on the opposite side, the Wanderers crowded the 6 yard box, fired in the free kick and it was headed home to jubilation from the crowd by Antonsson. The celebrations were cut short by the offside flag, and VAR quickly intervened to confirm that Pantazopoulos was offside despite it appearing to come off Antonsson and the game continued at 2-2. The final injustice came as the Wanderers broke clear on a 3 v 2 counter off a corner, only for Adam Kearsey to blow full time as the attackers streamed forward seeking a winner.

There were some yellow cards handed out in the final washup as the Wanderers remonstrated with the officials, eventually Stajcic made his way over and called his team back into the sheds. It was another unfortunately typical game for Western Sydney, dominating early, scoring but dying in the second half and letting their opposition finish all over them. The usual controversial officiating should have been irrelevant, if Thomas had held onto a penalty that was shot straight at him, if Pantazopoulos hadn't strayed offside from a dead ball and if the team had taken any of the multitude of chances to score a 3rd or 4th goal. The draw has likely ended any hope of a top two finish for the Wanderers, with Western United & City to battle it out there, and also puts Melbourne Victory in with a real shot of stealing away 4th place and a home semi-final.

The Wanderers next match is against Newcastle Jets on Saturday the 26th of April, in Newcastle with kikc-off at 5:00PM.

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[Legionista]

We’re not quite there. 

[matty]

Tactics were very poor, substitutions sucked

[TwoLeftFoots]

They had us. We didn't change it up.

Cant complain, few bad calls. Unlucky for banterzopolus.

[Unlimited]

That first half before City scored was like 1970 Brazil, it was breathtaking

And then Vidmar did something to nullify us completely in the second half, it was a real chess game.

Refereeing was… interesting. I don’t agree at all with calling full time in the middle of a counter attack - you call it as soon as the corner is cleared or you let that attack go on. It left a sour taste in the mouth.

[HillsPanther]

These bias commentators are making me sick.

[mack]

3 minutes ago, Legionista said:

We’re not quite there. 

I think we're gonna end up playing Western United away for the elimination final, decent chance we beat them but that would leave us having to go to Auckland with a two legged semi-final and I can't see the team being able to defend well enough over what will likely be ~190 minutes of play and potential extra time to get past them.

[sonar]

Compared to previous seasons I thought we played ok. Just one thing, when you are 2 goals up and end up with a draw it shows that we still need to work on our defence.

Onwards we go.

[matty]

9 minutes ago, mack said:

I think we're gonna end up playing Western United away for the elimination final, decent chance we beat them but that would leave us having to go to Auckland with a two legged semi-final and I can't see the team being able to defend well enough over what will likely be ~190 minutes of play and potential extra time to get past them.

More likely we host them.

[Sithslayer1991]

I think after the 25 minute mark City made an adjustment and then absolutely steam rolled the midfield. I hadn't seen a team do this to us since the last derby. And City did it for 65 minutes.

I think Staj got it wrong 2nd half. We were just defending and couldn't get out. Mata I think should have been brought on, Priestmann looked cooked by 80th minute, Al Taay covered with a  foul.

Its a shame we let this slip to challenge for 2nd. But in terms of finals we just need 1 win.

 

This Kersey guy really had it in for us

[WSWJACK]

Still leaving the ground half cut with a sore throat and with a non apologetic jaundiced one eye view of the game, going home gotta get some sleep, adios muchacos

[Kotallo]

Very worrying signs for finals - if you go 2 up, it must be game over. Inexperience in the backline still costing us, something the abundant passion Panta has cannot cover. 

Regardless Kersey is a FLOG

[immortalshogun]

10 undefeated not bad but fmd Kearsey had a shocker! 

We really should have put them away early when we had our feet on their necks but jeeez

[pseudonym]

Unbeaten against the three Victorian clubs home and away

[StringerBellend]

37 minutes ago, Unlimited said:

That first half before City scored was like 1970 Brazil, it was breathtaking

And then Vidmar did something to nullify us completely in the second half, it was a real chess game.

Refereeing was… interesting. I don’t agree at all with calling full time in the middle of a counter attack - you call it as soon as the corner is cleared or you let that attack go on. It left a sour taste in the mouth.

Has there been some new directive on that, as lately I've seen a couple of times of referees blowing full time while teams on the attack, surely you let that run until it breaks down 

[StringerBellend]

27 minutes ago, Sithslayer1991 said:

I think after the 25 minute mark City made an adjustment and then absolutely steam rolled the midfield. I hadn't seen a team do this to us since the last derby. And City did it for 65 minutes.

I think Staj got it wrong 2nd half. We were just defending and couldn't get out. Mata I think should have been brought on, Priestmann looked cooked by 80th minute, Al Taay covered with a  foul.

Its a shame we let this slip to challenge for 2nd. But in terms of finals we just need 1 win.

 

This Kersey guy really had it in for us

I have no idea now what is going on with Big Al and Mata. If you arent going to bring him on in that game when are you?

[MartinTyler]

21 minutes ago, Kotallo said:

Very worrying signs for finals - if you go 2 up, it must be game over. Inexperience in the backline still costing us, something the abundant passion Panta has cannot cover. 

Regardless Kersey is a FLOG

2 up early is NEVER game over. City are a good team

[MartinTyler]

2 minutes ago, StringerBellend said:

Has there been some new directive on that, as lately I've seen a couple of times of referees blowing full time while teams on the attack, surely you let that run until it breaks down 

Actually I reckon he should have called full time before City got their last corner.

[StringerBellend]

42 minutes ago, matty said:

Tactics were very poor, substitutions sucked

Hammond was poor when he came on, which is a shame I dig him but the inexperience showed, if only we had some experience on the bench hey 

[StringerBellend]

Just now, MartinTyler said:

Actually I reckon he should have called full time before City got their last corner.

So right before the corner? I think that happened to everton the other week. 

 

[EmMac]

26 minutes ago, sonar said:

Compared to previous seasons I thought we played ok. Just one thing, when you are 2 goals up and end up with a draw it shows that we still need to work on our defence.

Onwards we go.

Yeah we let them play, didn't close them down quick enough,  gave them space, and they scored. 

Silly penalty and disallowed goal and that's the draw.

It feels alot like defeat snatched from the jaws of victory, even though we drew, which is shame cause we're playing some lovely football

Disappointed that we dropped what would have been 3 very beneficial points, but at least we didn't lose. 

Those missed opportunities mean that the ref wins.  We must score a bufferzone worth of goals, cause these refs hate us

Yep onwards

[MartinTyler]

21 minutes ago, StringerBellend said:

So right before the corner? I think that happened to everton the other week. 

 

Yep

 

[Mar]

The other refs seemed to have calmed down a little since the Rudan rubbish, but Kersey is still holding a grudge. He needs to be looked at by the league as he is seriously biased against WSW. He did everything he could tonight to hurt us. And we did some serious hurting ourselves as well. 

 

[nmh94]

46 minutes ago, MartinTyler said:

2 up early is NEVER game over. City are a good team

You are correct and I said the same thing a thousand times during the game, but was hoping I was wrong. Sad reality is we were outclassed from minute 15 onwards. Milanovic though - what a performance early on!!!

What do we learn out of tonight? We will we competitive in the finals, but unfortunately for all other than  the AFL hierarchy, this nothing of a 'club' could well win it.

Edit: I feel dirty being this person, but yes, the referee sucked tonight.

Edited April 19 by nmh94

[StringerBellend]

52 minutes ago, EmMac said:

Yeah we let them play, didn't close them down quick enough,  gave them space, and they scored. 

Silly penalty and disallowed goal and that's the draw.

It feels alot like defeat snatched from the jaws of victory, even though we drew, which is shame cause we're playing some lovely football

Disappointed that we dropped what would have been 3 very beneficial points, but at least we didn't lose. 

Those missed opportunities mean that the ref wins.  We must score a bufferzone worth of goals, cause these refs hate us

Yep onwards

I'm back with the referees don't particularly hate us they are just crap

Again the referee had stuff all effect on that game, the goal was offside, Panta is in the play soon as he goes for that ball regardless of if he gets it or not 

He missed a yellow card for a high foot (but it wouldn't have made any difference)

he blew full-time early (or arguably late) but that's a massive what if to say it made any difference 

What made a difference was Cleur switching off at a corner (which he does a a lot). Panta going into a tackle like a O45s centre back (by a O45s centre back I mean me)

BTW I'm not being negative here we played some ace footy and we the players tried their hearts out. I love Panta he plays like a fan would if given the chance.

But those errors in big games is what costs you.

If you give 2 goals away well to state the obvious you have to score 3 to win 

Edited April 19 by StringerBellend

[StringerBellend]

13 minutes ago, nmh94 said:

You are correct and I said the same thing a thousand times during the game, but was hoping I was wrong. Sad reality is we were outclassed from minute 15 onwards. Milanovic though - what a performance early on!!!

What do we learn out of tonight? We will we competitive in the finals, but unfortunately for all other than  the AFL hierarchy, this nothing of a 'club' could well win it.

Edit: I feel dirty being this person, but yes, the referee sucked tonight.

beauty of the a league there are 4 or 5 teams who could win it 

Auckland are solid 

City can control games 

We have for the ability to knock in goals 

Victory 

 

[StringerBellend]

35 minutes ago, MartinTyler said:

Yep

 

See is this a new interpretation, it feels like to me the referees would let the play run until it breaks down and would have let the corner be taken too..But lately I've seen a couple of times it's been more on the tick of the clock 

[scarcev]

I don't think we were outclassed, we simply stopped playing after we went 2-0 up.  When it got back to 2-2 we played some urgent footy again and went forward with purpose and we looked dangerous but at 2-1 we were happy to put the cue in the rack and back our defence and play long balls forward on the counter which was a mistake.  I hate this bloke as a ref because crowds get to him but suffice to say not much went our way.  The corner they scored from was never a corner as there was an offside that caused it but that's football we should have defended it better. A point is a point and to be real we probably jagged it so be happy and move on, hopefully Newcastle and ESFC draw so it ****s them both up, so when we get to Newy they have nothing to play for.

[StringerBellend]

1 hour ago, sonar said:

Compared to previous seasons I thought we played ok. Just one thing, when you are 2 goals up and end up with a draw it shows that we still need to work on our defence.

Onwards we go.

It's the amount we let in from corners that shits me. that's something you can practice 

[sonar]

4 minutes ago, StringerBellend said:

It's the amount we let in from corners that shits me. that's something you can practice 

Yep. 

Tbh I didn't think we would be where we are on the ladder a while back maybe even missing out on the six but we have shown we can compete and beat the teams above us. That's a big improve on previous seasons.

Make the six is a pass mark but we actually can win it if we play smart. I don't know if we have the smarts just yet though.

The Jets up next then Macarthur. Must win games.