Melbourne Victory won an entertaining but ragged 5-4 match against the Western Sydney Wanderers tonight in Melbourne. Victory ran out to a mammoth 5-1 lead before the Wanderers charged back very late on but failed to find a last minute equaliser, the loss now the 6th game in a row the Wanderers have failed to win and heaping pressure on their top 6 position and the position of coach Carl Robinson.
The Wanderers, coming into the game on the back of a poor loss against Brisbane Roar, were desperate to take all three points against the cellar dwelling Victory. Melbourne had sacked Grant Brebner following their disastrous 7-0 loss against their rivals Melbourne City. They made a host of changes, the most significant was the return of giant striker Rudy Gestede who had missed 5 previous games. The Wanderers bought in Jordan O'Doherty with Keanu Baccus left out. The biggest change for either side was revealed after kick-off, with Carl Robinson ditching his ineffective 5 man defensive unit, playing a regulation 4 at the back with Ziggy Gordon shifting over to right back.
Western Sydney started brightly, on top for the first 5 minutes and eventually finding the first attack of the game, Bruce Kamau turning back inside from the byline to find O'Doherty who shot from outside the penalty area with a ball that curved away from goal rather than toward it. Mitch Duke had the radar off with his shot on the turn, a left footed strike that fizzed past the far post. Duke had a glorious chance very soon after, Troisi was free in midfield and found a perfect through ball for the striker, all he needed was a basic first touch then a strike but his touch let him down and it rolled away for a goal kick. 12 minutes in and it was Ibini on the ball, shooting from long range and forcing Matt Acton into a spill.
As is oh so common for the Wanderers, their failed chances came back to haunt them. Robbie Kruse beat Graham Dorrans with his run on the right wing, the midfielder failing to cut down Kruse with a lunging tackle. Kruse strode into the paddock of open space, getting past Ziegler then playing a one-two pass with Callum McManaman that took advantage of Ziegler closing down the English midfielder. Margush closed down Kruse which allowed a lob to the back post. Ben Folami steadied on his right foot, shot through a diving tackle by Gordon and past the defenders on the line to open the scoring.
Victory doubled their lead in the 26th minute. Another Victory attack saw Gordon have to leap to knock the ball out for a corner, and the Victory took advantage of a void where the Wanderers defence was meant to be from the set piece. A simple in-swinging corner that fell into the 6 yard box and somehow Storm Roux was left unmarked and he made no mistake with the header, banging it into the turf for 2-0. The shambolic defending nearly saw the scoreline become 3-0, as they played out from the restart, lost the ball and an unmarked Kruse fired a shot into the legs of Margush.
The Wanderers shrugged off their shellshock long enough to pull a goal back in the 30th. Kamau played a neat interchange with Mitch Duke before the winger's cutback found the feet of Troisi and his right foot shot hammered onto the underside of the crossbar with a thud to give the Wanderers a lifeline before half-time. O'Doherty should have earned a penalty in the 38th minute, he was clearly tripped inside the box by Brandon Lauton. Alireza Faghani was unimpressed, waved it away and despite clear evidence to the contrary, the VAR declined to reverse the bad decision.
Despite the first warning from Storm Roux, the Wanderers conceded another simple goal from a set piece. Late in stoppage time McGowan picked up a yellow card for blocking Kruse from making a further run, the side managed to stop conceding from the free kick, but couldn't perform the same duty from the corner that resulted from it. This time it was a right footed out-swinger from Jake Brimmer that went deep past most of the attacking pack. Gordon was in place to clear away the cross but he slipped over at the vital moment, giving Folami a saloon passage and a free look at goal, the right footed jumping volley just beat the diving Margush to make it 3-1 at the half.
The first chance of the second half fell to Mitch Duke. Troisi continued his decent game by putting in a well aimed, fast cross at head level for Duke's run, his slicing header fell agonisingly wide. Gordon had the chance to make amends for his set piece slip after 50 minutes, his header was spilled by Acton and only just cleared away before the Wanderers could get a shot off. Another 6 yard box pinball resulted in shots Duke and then Ibini, with Acton tipping the ball just past the onrushing boot of Kamau.
A tale of two fouls set the scene for the next scoring opportunity in the 63rd minute. At the Victory end, Kamau tiptoed past the Victory defence before being pulled down from behind. Somehow the referee didn't see the foul and waved play on. Folami went up the other end, dribbling the entire half before being cut down by Gordon. Margush faced up to Jake Brimmer, picked the right way to dive and saved the poorly taken penalty. It didn't help the Wanderers much as they copped yet another set piece goal from the corner restart. A simple near post flick on streaked on to thefar post, Gordon had lost his marker Dylan Ryan and the young defender had a tap-in to make it 4-1.
Jacob Butterfield got in on the scoring act for the Victory in the 72nd minute. Gestede was back to goal on the edge of the area, passed it back to Butterfield, who was allowed to take multiple touches to bring it onto his left foot and rocketed the ball into the top corner, leaving Margush standing like a rock in his goal. Kruse gave away a penalty in the 75th minute, blotting the copybook on his solid night. He jumped to block a cross with his hands out and gave Faghani no choice but to punish the offence with a spot kick. Dorrans stepped up to take the penalty, calming slotting it straight down the middle with Acton having dived to his left. At 5-2 with 15 to go, it was likely to be nothing more than a consolation goal.
With 4 minutes left in the regulation 90 the Wanderers pulled back another goal, making it 5-3 through Mitch Duke who rose with perfect timing buried a powerful header, then as stoppage time loomed the Wanderers miraculously pulled the game back to 5-4. Nicolai Muller having come on as a substitute, had the ball deflect into his path and he hit an instinctive first time volley from at least 30 yards that arrowed into the net like a tracer bullet.
From the restart the Victory fell to pieces, giving up possession, and the Wanderers should have equalised, but instead of a cutback to an open Duke, the ball was kept at the feet and then cleared away. Kamau then had the final chance of the game, Troisi firing a low cross that found Kamau's feet, he turned and flashed his shot just wide as 94 minutes ticked over and the Victory bought on a final time-wasting substitute to run out the clock.
Melbourne had got away with the win as time ran short for the Wanderers, the 4 goals and the good finish papering over the cracks of their abysmal, pathetic defence. The total inability of the side to stop chances at set pieces is costing the Wanderers matches almost weekly, and is simply not good enough this long into the season. While Robinson did switch from the ineffective 5 at the back, his selection decisions were baffling, pushing Ziggy Gordon who had been the best of our central defenders to the wing, and selecting a pairing of McGowan and Ziegler in the middle, two players who have rarely managed to put together a single game without giving away a penalty, a goal from poor positioning or showing lack of effort. McGowan is not stepping up like a Captain of the Western Sydney Wanderers should be. The club has now gone 6 games without a win, and have a Sydney Derby coming the portents suggest that stretch will become 7 next Saturday.
Carl Robinson might be in his first season at the Wanderers but his job is far from secure, the supporters are sick of coaches who cannot keep a well discipline defensive structure in place, because it is defence that keeps a team in the top echelon of the league. While I would be surprised if he was sacked by Lederer and the rest of the clowns making the decisions, Sydney FC is unlikely to gift the Wanderers as many opportunities to score and a big loss in the Derby may prove fatal to his tenure.
The Wanderers next match is against Sydney FC at Parramatta on Saturday 1st May, kick-off at 7:10 PM.
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