3 Goal Comeback Wins In Adelaide

The Western Sydney Wanderers travelled to Adelaide with momentum on their side and hopes of crashing into the top 6 if they could pull off a victory against the hosts, 2nd placed Adelaide United. Adelaide ran out to a 2-0 lead before three unanswered to the Red & Black and a 12 minute stoppage time defensive stand earned the visitors all three points in a thrilling contest.

The Wanderers coming off a strong 4-1 win against the Nix made two changes to the starting 11, with two of the goalscorers from last weekend, Bozhidar Kraev & Zac Sapsford being replaced by fellow scorer Marcus Antonsson and midfielder Oscar Priestman. Juan Mata continued on the bench and Jesse Cameron received his second opportunity to make his A-League debut to go along with his trio of Australia Cup appearances. The changes suggested load management for the benched attackers, and the replacements implied a formation change to potentially place Scicluna behind Borrello or to accommodate two central midfielders in front of a single pivot screening role, most likely Brillante.

The opening stages were cagey from both sides and the first strike in anger coming from a long distance Ryan Kitto strike across the face of goal. Antonsson had a shot of his own that stung the palms of James Delianov from a deflection, Borrello picked up the rebound but dribbled backward and sideways looking for a shooting opportunity that never came. Stefan Mauk had a chance to shoot one on one with Lawrence Thomas after Adelaide countered quickly but he couldn't get the ball out from his feet.

On the half-hour mark the home team took the lead. Taking advantage of a gigantic space between the midfield and defensive line, Mauk strode into the Wanderers half, found Ben Folmai out wide and his first time pass to an unmarked Ethan Alagich who smashed his first A-League goal over Thomas who for some reason was crouched on his heels instead of standing tall at the near post.

Adelaide's fans had barely time to finish their celebration before they were doing another as 70 seconds later Archie Goodwin scored his 5th of the season to put Adelaide 2 goals to the good. It was a simple lack of effort in defence that opened the door, Zac Clough was left acres of space to cross because Oscar Preistman failed to close him down, and then the two central defenders Alex Bonetig & Dean Pelekanos conspired to allow the shorter Goodwin to without putting as much as a hand on him. It was harder to miss than score from 7 yards out and the 20 year old striker headed home.

The official was letting Adelaide get away with foul after foul all match and continued doing so when he ignored a clear grab on Milanovic to prevent him getting on the end of a through ball and a subsequent one on one with the keeper.

With mere seconds left in the half the Wanderers pulled a goal back. A simple cross on the right from Milanovic floated to the back stick, Antonsson had to walk backward to find a connection and it was a great one, headed back across goal and doing just enough to prevent the touch from Delianov and a last ditch clearance attempt from stopping it heading into the back of the net. It was perhaps unfair on the Reds, but their failure to close out the break was punished decisively to setup the second half.

The Wanderers completed the comeback 3 minutes into the second, a Clisby corner flew to Borrello at the back post, the Adelaide defence were caught out of position and after bringing the ball down he poked it home to give himself a share of the A-League Golden Boot race with his 5th of the season and leaving the match evenly poised at 2-2.

After an hour the Wanderers continued to push, Antonsson almost getting onto the end of a Cleur cross. It was his last involvement, as Kraev & Sapsford came on for Antonsson & Priestman, reverting back to the starting 11 from the game against Wellington. Adelaide made their first change with Austin Ayoubi going up front for Goodwin, Alen Stajcic responded with the introduction of Mata for Brillante. Cleur had run himself ragged all night and finally succumbed in the 77th, Aydan Hammond coming on with the Wanderers third and final sub window. Kitto finally earned his way into the refs notebook with a studs up knock into Milanovic's ankle. The resulting free kick came back out of defence for a Milanovic long shot that was weak and at the keeper.

Scicluna had been pressed into the right back role by the absence of Cleur. His strong play to win the ball off Folami began an attack that ended with the ball in the back of the hosts net. The erstwhile fullback found Kraev with a diagonal ball along the turf, and with no-one ahead the newly introduced striker ran forward, aimed and fired from 18 yards out, a left foot shot that caught Delianov off balance.

The 7 minutes of stoppage time were filled with drama, as Dean Pelekanos suffered a head knock that required treatment, and was followed by a mid-field collision for Scicluna that saw him needing what appeared to be an Anterior Cruciate Ligament test. Adelaide sparked a mini melee by booting a second ball into the Wanderers dug out. The crowd bayed for blood at and some point Alen Stajcic was given a straight red while watching Scicluna being tested. Adelaide pushed forward into the 101st minute, throwing everything but the keeper into the area with their final action of the game, Scicluna went down again but gained his feet to prevent Adelaide being gifted even more time from the clearly biased South Australian located official.

Despite the ref seemingly playing next goal wins, the Wanderers stoically held off the thundering Adelaide attack in a last stand as the match ticked into the 102nd minute. Adelaide couldn't get their corner routine accurately enough to put a shot on target and the official finally blew the full time whistle, catapulting the Wanderers into the top 6 and putting the team on a 4 game unbeaten run.

The Wanderers next match is against Macarthur FC in Parramatta on Wednesday the 1st of January 2025 with kick-off at 6pm.