Milanovic Double Enough In Adelaide

The Western Sydney Wanderers travelled to Adelaide needing a win to stay in touch with the top 4. Nicolas Milanovic scored two goals early and the Wanderers held on after a late Adelaide comeback to run out 2-1 winners on Saturday night.

A game with a variety of former Adelaide players including Daniel Margush and Lachlan Brook. The match kicked off with a trio of heavy collisions. Jack Clisby took a pair of knocks to the head, one with a collision going for the ball, the second a cocked elbow to the face from Isaias Sanchez that went unpunished by the match official. Alex Bonetig picked up a very early yellow card when he kicked at a ball that an Adelaide player had stooped to the turf to try and head, making contact after his follow through. In the 15th minute Margush and Bonetig combined to keep out Adelaide when their looping header looked to possibly drop underneath the crossbar.

Nicolas Milanovic has been the surprise package for the Wanderers this season and he continued his good form by opening the scoring in the 17th minute. Aidan Simmons with a deep, perfect cross that found Milanovic at the back stick and he powered the header home giving James Delianov in the Adelaide goal no chance.

The Wanderers were lucky to avoid Adelaide pegging them back with a flurry of chances on the half-hour. Ben Halloran had a clean sight at goal and fired at the near post but Margush was well positioned and turned it behind for a corner. That corner should have resulted in at least a shot on target, if not a goal, when Harry Van Der Saag rose 6 yards out from goal & unmarked, flashing his header well wide. Only after a third chance was flashed past the goals from 20 yards out did the Wanderers finally get back on the ball, and Brandon Borrello let Adelaide off the hook when there were two team-mates unmarked inside the box his cut-back went straight to the keeper instead of setting up a tap-in for Brook. Milanovic popped up again with the head, this time coming inside for another Simmons cross to hit past the near post.

Adelaide failed to heed the multiple warnings and Milanovic had a brace and the Wanderers 2nd. A right footed in-swinging cross on the sideline arced in to the edge of the 6 yard box and right in front and from there Milanovic couldn't miss, scoring his 6th goal of the A-League season to make it 2-0.

Delianov almost gifted a 3rd to the visitors a few minutes later, spilling a simple save back out in front of him and only the grace of a close defender bouncing the ball back to the keeper saved them. Clough went down the other end with another chance with a curling shot that beat Margush but the Wanderers keeper's angles were spot on and the ball grazed the backside of the far post and out for a goal kick. Delianov's playing out from the back was lacking accuracy and he hit a tame pass to Alex Badolato, the rebound was just too heavy to give Badolato the empty net, his eventual shot flew over the top of the goal.

It was the last significant chance of the half, 45 minutes where the Wanderers dominated the one on ones and used their advantage to generate goals. The second half began with the unsurprising introduction of Nestory Irankunda, the mercurial wunderkind set to join Bayern Munich at the end of the season.

Delianov managed to just reach out and catch a shot from Borrello, a through ball to the striker that give him enough space to try the chip but not enough to generate the power to get it past. In the 56th minute Brooke missed punishing his former side by inches. Receiving the ball from a quick throw-in, he somehow dragged the ball from over his shoulder to his left foot and inside the box, beat Kitto the cover defender  with a toe and his third touch took it over the onrushing keeper but then agonisingly wide of the post.

68 minute in and Carl Veart made a tactical sub, swapping midfielder Ethan Alagich for striker Luka Jovanovic, and adjusting his formation to play two up front and have a wing pair of Irankunda and Halloran. Giuseppe Bovalina came on for Van Der Saag while the first change for the Red & Black was Oscar Priestman for Jorrit Hendrix, who had a quiet but good game. 

With 15 minutes to play in regulation the two teams exploded. Margush had picked out Simmons with a pass that split two of the high press, releasing Simmons for a run into the middle of the pitch. Ben Halloran came across and when his first attempt at a professional foul failed, he planted his studs into the back of Simmons' leg, instantly spotted by Alex King and punished with a well deserved straight red card. Shortly after there was another coming together between Borrello and Kitto that ended in shove and pushing match in front of the fourth official.

Jovanovic's first impact on the match came with 10 to go, he got on the end of a Kitto cross but it bounced in front of his foot and it rose over Margush and the crossbar. Marko Rudan reacted with a double swap, Badolato, Simmons and Milanovic finally coming off after a mountain of work. The Dylan's Scicluna and Pierias with Sonny Kittel making an appearance. Borrello had come up with what looked like cramp and he left the field in the 84th minute with Nathaniel Blair coming on for his 4th ever A-League appearance and his first for the season. The use of the final sub window caused concern when Josh Brillante went down with his own leg injury, he eventually made his way back onto the pitch as injury time loomed but could do little but hobble around blocking a very narrow passing lane.

Blair could have sealed the game when Pierias put him through on goal, Blair's decision to go with the left food instead of a first time right footed strike let the ball roll long enough that Delianov came out and smothered the chance. Kittel almost caught Delianov on the wrong side of the goal when he took a surprise quick free kick from a long way out that he blasted it into the side netting.

Halfway through the 8 minutes of stoppage time Adelaide pulled it back to 2-1 to give themselves hope of a point. Irankunda ran at the defence and found a through ball for Jovanovic and he beat Margush through the legs. The VAR came into play in the 97th minute when Bovalina decided to strike out at Kittel. After a review the decision ended up being a foul to the Wanderers and a yellow card for the Adelaide player. The goal, reviews and a few injury concerns extended the 8 minutes of stoppage time into 12, and finally the game ended  Marcelo had been a tower of strength at the back and he came across with a 98th minute block to turn the ball away for a corner, a fitting end after his excellent game. The 3 points put the Wanderers back into the top 4 pending the remaining fixtures, but perhaps more importantly in the race of the finals, put them 5 points clear of Melbourne City in 7th place. Adelaide remain anchored to the bottom of the table and after a match where they did little but foul and complain about the ref, it's looking likely they will miss the finals entirely and perhaps are going to have Carl Veart seeking new employment elsewhere.

The Wanderers next match is against Sydney FC, in Parramatta at the Western Sydney Stadium on the 2nd of March with kick-off at 7:45pm.