The Western Sydney Wanderers finally have their first win at Parramatta Stadium this A-League season with a come from behind 3-2 victory against a 10 man Melbourne City.
A massive storm hit Sydney prior to the game, drenching the stadium and bracketing the Parramatta area with constant lightning and thunder. The game was delayed by an hour until the storm cleared. A surprise inclusion in the Wanderers squad was the debut of central defender Jonathan Aspropotamitis as a result of the heavy schedule and injuries to several players.
City were unlucky not to open the score after a bakers dozen of minutes, an wide Aaron Mooy free kick found Patrick Kisnorbo but somehow his touch sliced onto the underside of the crossbar. City did get themselves in front eventually on the half-hour. Mooy received a second chance after a cleared corner and he stood up Labinot Haliti to deliver a teasing cross to the back post that found Kisnorbo, who had his header cleared off the line by Yojiro Takahagi, only to see Safuwan Baharudin react faster than Mateo Poljak to pounce on the rebound to fire it past Dean Bouzanis from point blank range.
Despite going behind the Wanderers arguably had the better of the play, without much result in terms of shots. Eventually the pressure told, Tomi Juric combined with Haliti to cross into the middle, Juric getting onto the end of the teasing effort, having his first time shot blocked by Connor Chapman, this time around Poljak was able to react and his sidefoot shot was perfectly placed and the Wanderers were level at the break.
Both sides went looking for another goal to take the lead, and Tomi Juric should have put his side in front. Nikita Rukavytsya was hammered in a tackle but still managed to release Takahagi, an intelligent run from Juric saw him get in behind the City defence. With the crowd expecting him to bulge the back of the net he was denied by a superb reflex save from City keeper Tando Velaphi.
The game swung again a minute after the Juric miss. Substitute Jason Trifiro gave away a foul nearly on half-way and deep on the left flank, Mooy launched his cross into the penalty are and it evaded everyone including Dean Bouzanis to nestle into the far corner.
While the Wanderers could have been forgiven if they went into their shell with heads dropped, the Mooy goal saw gave the Wanderers players double their effort to get something out of the game. And get something they did. Connor Chapman turned the game on it's head with two baffling brain explosions. The first was giving away a clear penalty on Tomi Juric, after he got nutmegged by Juric, Chapman dragged his arm across the striker and shoved him to ground, spotted by Strebre Delovski. Juric having won the penalty took it as well, burying a powerful strike past the dive of Velaphi.
Chapman's second brain explosion gave the Wanderers a one man advantage. After Takahagi dispossessed the defender with a sliding challenge that left Chapman incensed. As Delovski waved play on Chapman confronted & manhandled the referee, earning him an instant straight red card.
Western Sydney poured forward to take advantage of their greater number, and it was Rukavytsya who should have put the home team in front 5 minutes before regulation time expired. Takahagi was cut down outside the area, Juric stood over the ball, City's marking fell to pieces leaving Rukavytsya in open space. He was spotted by Juric who calmly slotted the ball behind the City defensive wall, Rukavytsya's first touch wasn't optimal and his shot was smothered by the onrushing Velaphi.
In the end the flying winger had the last laugh. 2 minutes into injury time Tanaka's cross could only be flicked on by Kisnorbo, and it fell to the benefit of Rukavytsya, who fired a side volley back across goal, giving Velaphi no chance to repeat his heroics and giving the Wanderers their first win at Parramatta Stadium in the A-League this season.
The win lifts the club off the bottom of the A-League ladder as a result of their superior goal difference over Newcastle, and keeping just the faintest glimmer of hope that should Brisbane, City & the Mariners all collapse in a heap, the Wanderers could finish 6th by winning most if not all of their remaining matches.
The Wanderers next match is against Melbourne Victory at Parramatta Stadium on Friday the 13th of March.
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