The Western Sydney Wanderers overcame a bizarre refereering decision to take all three points in their away match in Newcastle tonight.
Newcastle opened the scoring through a blatantly offside goal that was initially ruled out, only for the referee to over-rule his linesman and give the Jets a 1-0 lead, a clear square up penalty to Western Sydney was won by Brendon Santalab then converted by Andreu, before Mitch Nichols' long range rocket gave the visitors a 2-1 lead they weren't going to give up.
The first half was a give and take affair, with neither side overly dominant, although it was clear the Wanderers had the better of the half, they were not able to take advantage to go ahead before the break. Mitch Nichols struck a long range effort that Mark Birighitti had to stretch at full arms length to turn behind, and moments before the half-time whistle Dario Vidosic brought down a chip on the edge of the 6 yard box before lashing a volley that was unfortunately aimed straight at Mark Birighitti.
Second half saw a resurgence in chances, with Newcastle taking the lead in the 73rd minute in extraordinary fashion. Andreu cut down Leonardo on the edge of the box, receiving a yellow card and giving away a free kick. Ki-Je Lee stepped up and curled the ball over the wall, it rebounded off the crossbar with Redmayne beaten, into the bath of Enver Alivodic, who ran off to celebrate, only for the linesman's flag to cut it short. Despite Alivodic being clearly offside, the officials conversed, and decided to overturn the decision. Another atrocious display of incompetence from A-League officials and gave the Jets the lead.
Despite the setback the Wanderers kept their heads up, and took control of the match in search of an equaliser. Hope came in the form of Brendon Santalab. With the ball high in the sky following a shanked clearance, Santalab positioned himself below the ball, Newcastle's #9 Milos Trifunovic combined a trip with a shove in the back and was rightly punished with a penalty awarded against him. With the Wanderers shady record from the spot, it was Andreu who sealed a magnificent match by sending Birighitti the wrong way to level the game.
Mitch Nichols was the man of the match and arguably the signing of the season for the Red & Black, he sealed his performance by sending the strong away support into raptures with the winner. 4 minutes from full time Scott Jamieson forced Jason Hoffman into an error, Romeo Castelen played it onto Bridge, who shifted to the blonde attacking midfielder. His first touch laid the ball in front, and his second was a dipping and swerving strike that fizzed under Birighitti and nestled into the back of the net.
The Wanderers held firm in the dying moments and took all three points back down the motorway to Parramatta. The win puts them back in the Premiership hunt and is a reward for the effort and quality football being played by the still reigning Asian Champions. With 55% possession and a 82% passing accuracy, not to mention for the first game in a long time, actually looking a threat from set pieces, it bodes well for the next game, against Melbourne City.
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