A first half Mark Bridge goal and a second half own goal to Melbourne Heart defender Patrick Gerhardt was enough to give the Wanderers their first ever home win.
In front of Australian National Team boss Holger Osiek, the first chance of the game fell to Garcia who dragged his long shot well right. A series of fiery encounters had Poljak and Simon Colosimo reprimanded for fouling, with Colosimo coming in from behind and collecting Ono as well as the ball. Polenz was caught from behind and cut down by Hoffman who was inexplicably allowed to continue with the ball despite a clear lunging foul. Ono came flying through on a tackle in retaliation, collecting Hoffman in the legs and earning himself a yellow card. Hoffman spent some time on the canvas receiving treatment.
The first chance for the Wanderers came as a result of a blatant foul by Gerhardt. Despite lashing out with his foot and cutting down Adam D'Apuzzo the Heart central defender was not cautioned. The foul was around 25 yards from goal and just off centre to the left. Ono and Mooy stood over the ball with Mooy taking on the responsibility. His shot cleared the wall but never had the spin to allow it to dip on target and it drifted harmlessly out for a goal kick.
A run of fouls were committed by the Heart players, Behich tripped Polenz, Colosimo elbowed Hersi in the head despite winning a header and Josip Tadic tripped Aaron Mooy. Tadic threatened after getting in behind the Wanderers defence but couldn't do anything with the chance. Gerhardt fouled Joey Gibbs and Mooy took a quick free kick to Shinji Ono, who was unable to control properly inside the area with the ball spilling from his feet and out for a goal kick. Hersi had a shot on the edge of the penalty box blocked by Behich on 22 minutes.
Josip Tadic managed to win a dubious corner for his low wide shot and the poor decision nearly cost the Wanderers. Mate Dugandzic had a golden chance to equalise almost instantly, off a short corner the Wanderers cleared the ball out of the box but only as far as Mitchinson. He lofted the ball toward the back post, Dugandzic had drifted in from his wide position and as the ball floated over the head of the Wanderers defence it fell to him on the volley. He got his foot to the ball but scooped it high.
With 10 minutes left in the first half Aaron Mooy controlled a looping ball well with his first touch and unleashed a volley with the second. Colosimo attempted a desperate block and the ball flew out of danger. Poljak had the last real chance of the half, being released by Ono and the left back galloped through the centre of the pitch, with the crowd willing him to shoot he pulled the trigger but his body position wasn't great and the resulting finish was poor.
The Wanderers only needed 30 seconds from the resumption of play to create the first chance of the second half. Hersi made room for a cross and whipped the ball in, Gibbs won it in the air but his header lacked power. A 5 minute period without chances ensued, until Hersi jinked and shaped to cross twice before finally delivering a ball along the turf. Ono received the ball, Ono flicked the ball up into the air and performed an acrobatic bicycle kick, Bolton was well placed and the shot lacked power as the Japanese international stretched out as he fired at goal.
It wasn't long before the Wanderers fans had another goal to celebrate. Poljak rode a challenge, the referee played advantage and he played an exquisite diagonal ball out to Hersi on the wing. With Gibbs threatening at the back post, Patrick Gerhardt intercepted the ground level cross from Hersi. Gerhardt's positioning was superb, but instead of clearing the ball behind easily, he got himself in a right tangle and ended up flicking the ball past his stranded keeper to score an own goal at the 51st minute mark. Joey Gibbs had a shot blocked during a corner scramble, it fell to Bridge and the ball went skyward and out.
At two goals down the Heart finally started to ramp up their play, Behich sent a free kick straight at the wall after Topor-Stanley conceded the foul blocking Tadic who was making a run behind. When Tadic crossed after Topor-Stanley failed to clear the ball, it eventually ran back across the goal mouth to the Heart left sided attack. They delivered a cross back where the ball initially came from, Tadic was left unmarked and he volleyed the ball home to score his first ever A-League goal.
Garcia nearly equalised only a minute after the 57th minute strike from Tadic, Dugandzic beat his marker and whipped the ball into the near post. Garcia got free of his marker with a near-post run but only managed to hit the post. Aaron Mooy won the worst shot of the match award with his 61st minute shot which curled out not just for a goal kick by for a throw-in. A Heart throw-in deep inside the Wanderers half caused a mix up between Beauchamp and Covic, the captain expecting his keeper to claim a throw in as it ran toward the goal. Neither did however, and it let Tadic take a swing around Beauchamp's body. If any contact was made it was slight and the ball ran into the safety of Covic's hands.
When only 20 minutes remained on the clock Simon Colosimo was issued a yellow for some pushing in the box at a Heart free kick. An incorrectly awarded corner to the Heart saw Garcia rise above his marker Polenz but there was no direction on the header. Another horrible decision gave the Heart another corner when Gerhardt deflected a Dugandzic shot out, luckily for the Wanderers nothing came of the resulting corner.
Substitute Labinot Haliti came on and provided an immediate impact, running onto a Gibbs flick-on. The left winger pushed into the box and crossed it toward Gibbs and Hersi who were both making near post runs, neither could make solid contact and the ball ran out. A huge penalty shout was turned down when Gibbs was barged into by Colosimo as the Wanderers went up for a header but the referee was not interested one iota. Adam D'Apuzzo became the latest victim of the referee after his 77th minute holding foul on Dugandzic. Polenz had the best long range shot of the night, Aaron Mooy completely bamboozled Garcia and shifted the ball wide for Polenz. The right back knocked the ball out in front of him, and with no Heart defenders closing him down he connected with a fierce drive that barely missed collecting the cross bar.
With time running out and still a goal down the Heart started to pour forward in greater numbers. Matt Thompson collected the scraps from a free kick and his shot was blocked by Topor-Stanley. Tadic got on the end of a high ball but he was facing the wrong way and couldn't do anything with the chance. Mateo Polenz was the last Wanderers to go into the note-book as he received a yellow card for collecting his opponent with a elbow. Macallister knocked down a long throw for Behich whose first touch put it back into the path of the big substitute striker, the shot not troubling Ante Covic at all.
Labinot Halti was scythed down by Sam Mitchinson after he and Hersi created some great combination play. It was the 7th yellow card of the contest. The Wanderers managed to contain the Heart during injury time, a Topor-Stanley foul in a dangerous position came to nought for the Heart. After playing 5 minutes of injury time Garcia tripped Mark Bridge and before the free kick could be taken the final whistle was blown, giving the Wanderers their first ever win at home and propelling them to 4th on the league ladder albeit with the rest of the teams to play their matches over the weekend. Western Sydney could stay in their current high of 4th, but could also drop as low as 8th depending on results.
The Wanderers next match is against the Newcastle Jets at Parramatta Stadium on Saturday the 10th of November at 5:30pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time.
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