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  • Two Points Ditched In Mudgee

    mack

    By mack (edited)

    A-League football came for the first time to Mudgee, and the Wanderers left having thrown away two points having given Brisbane Roar a saloon passage to a 2-2 draw.

    Western Sydney began exceptionally well, opening the scoring in all of 10 minutes. Nick Fitzgerald lofted a ball over the top of the Brisbane defence, with flying winger Bruce Kamau coming inside, taking a neat touch to clear the cover defence before firing onto the post. It rebounded back into the middle of the 18 yard box and Oriol Riera could hardly miss to take the lead.

    The bright spark of Kamau tore the Roar defence to shreds again 10 minutes later to send Riera to the penalty spot. Kamau weaved through two defenders, before drawing a penalty from Jacob Pepper. Riera's penalt shot was turned onto the post by Jamie Young, it fell back to Riera's feet and he knocked it under the second dive of Young to pick up his and the Wanderers second goal of the game.

    Unfortunately for the Wanderers that was the peak of the game for the ostensibly home side. Brisbane began the long road back to parity through Alex Lopez, who launched a rocket from 25 yards out from goal, it beat Vedran Janejtovic all ends up, crashed into the base of the post and rebounded into the netting on the far side.

    Brisbane were back level mere minutes after the half-time break. Alexander Baumjohann idiotically felled Eric Bautheac well inside the penalty box and the referee had no hesitation pointing to the spot. Adam Taggart bettered Oriol Riera's penalty shot from the first half, as he sent Janjetovic the wrong way to make it 2-2.

    There were chances for both sides to take the lead, substitite Jaushua Sotirio with one of the best as he curled a long range effort onto the bar and out, but neither side could make a late breakthrough. Ultimately, it was another example of the ongoing failure of the Western Sydney Wanderers to hold onto their leads, and to close out games. Smashing Wellington is one thing, but they took their foot off the pedal against the Roar, a side they could ill afford to take lightly, and it has cost the team the chance to take the lead in the A-League Premiership.

    With an international break coming up, the next game for the Wanderers is on Friday the 23rd of November against the Newcastle Jets at the Sydney Showground Homebush.

    Edited by mack

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    Bellby
    1 hour ago, Taurus said:

    He changed the flow of game with 1 errant pass (intended for ABJ) late in 1st half. 

    From that point on, we failed to regain the ascendancy

    Also changed the flow of the game by creating Rieras opener with an exceptional ball to Kamau... if you’re going to hook someone based on one pass, you’d be out of your subs by the 10th minute. 

    Great to see Bruce finally get the time on the pitch he deserves & hopefully Fitzgerald sees more of it. The movement & intensity both of them bring created a ton of more space for ABJ & Riera. In saying that I feel both of those guys seem to get a bit of a free ride on here. For our marquees, neither are playing near the level we need too & their decision making his been poor. 

    Edited by Bellby
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    Smoggy

    Wonder how many of the 5k were Mudgee / mid west locals? 

    From walking around the ground my feeling was most were visitors like us away for the weekend.....

    5k was a decent attendance but plenty of space also...but got to say a success overall..

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    Edinburgh
    14 hours ago, WSWJACK said:

    Must admit had got sucked in by a few reviews on this board by a few posters about how lazy Kamau is supposed to be, along with Riera those two were the epitome of hard work and the mental attitude that Babbel is demanding.

    Well done Brucie.

    I too was impressed with Kamau. Although not as industrious in attack in the 2nd half that had a lot to do with needing to defend more.

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    Edinburgh

    Great trip. Time with my sister and bil. Great time at the Lawson and Kelly's pre game.  Shame I was so seedy for a lot of Saturday particularly after the march and onwards. Would have liked to join a few Wanderers post game but wasn't up to it.

    Recovered (mostly) overnight. Went to the annual Gulgong swap meet and car show this morning before heading home. It is huge. Think of your typical market day at home then double it several times. I strongly recommend anyone returning to the area check when that is on next and include it in your itinerary. 

    Manny, you would have lapped it up. Your impersonation of a local during the march was in evidence but live and real. The country atmosphere and characters in attendance was a wonderful extension of what you were saying yesterday.

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    Unlimited
    9 hours ago, Davo said:

    Match aside, which for the most part was a hot dumpster fire, small town football is awesome.

    From the locals getting right behind it, to having dinner at the same tiny restaurant as Garby trying to get romantic with his missus, to walking back to the car at night and seeing Henrique sitting on a bench eating an ice cream and chatting up some chick, it was great.

    "Yeah so the reason they call me the 'Slippery Fish' is..."

    :ninja:

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    ptwsw
    3 hours ago, Paul01 said:

    Another game showing the need for quality DM to control the tempo of the game.

    Exactly!

    Fitzy  & Brucie - A+.

    Very young mid yesterday, just a decent DM and I really think we can make a season of it. 

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    Smoggy

    So my son is thrilled...he has made the Mudgee Gaurdian newspaper photos....and so has my knee and foot..:D

    Second photo down with the man and women on the grass bank..**** them...the lad is the one of the far left with the scarf around his head looking bored :D Wants me to print it because he has never been in a newspaper before, not sure if this counts somehow..:rolleyes:

    https://www.mudgeeguardian.com.au/story/5750757/over-five-thousand-make-a-wanderland-appearance-round-four-of-hyundai-a-league/?cs=1485

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    BoyFromTheWest
    17 minutes ago, ptwsw said:

    Exactly!

    Fitzy  & Brucie - A+.

    Very young mid yesterday, just a decent DM and I really think we can make a season of it. 

    For about 20 min.  Kamau was good for the first 20-30 min but isn't the full player - great at running at defences and makes great runs into space but easily pushed off the ball and struggles with the running back and forth to defend and attack.

    Fitz is okay - was good for a fair bit and maybe finding his way.  Some good link ups and runs but not a great shooter and doesn't always take initiative.  For me Roly is still ahead of Fitz.  This year Roly has been solid and can shoot.  He is fast and more solid.  I would look at Roly on left and Kamau/Fitz on right - Fitz an impact player coming on about 55-60 min mark (ie instead of Soterio).

    As has been said, we still need more nous in the DM position, someone with experience and guile to steer us out of trouble - a no-nonsense enforcer.  We need to free Riera up from doing so much link up/defensive work in midfield.  We also needed more people making runs for ABJ who was often lost for someone to get the ball to.  ABJ is looking to attack and break open defences but when we are tired or less confident sit back and want to go backwards - I don't think that's ABJ's game.  Our crossing is quite awful and Riera gets nothing decent in the air.

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    wengerboy
    7 hours ago, Smoggy said:

    Wonder how many of the 5k were Mudgee / mid west locals? 

    From walking around the ground my feeling was most were visitors like us away for the weekend.....

    5k was a decent attendance but plenty of space also...but got to say a success overall..

     

    I think it would be better to play Newcastle so their supporters can come, make it a neutral vennue.

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    octa9ona11
    11 hours ago, Davo said:

    Match aside, which for the most part was a hot dumpster fire, small town football is awesome.

    From the locals getting right behind it, to having dinner at the same tiny restaurant as Garby trying to get romantic with his missus, to walking back to the car at night and seeing Henrique sitting on a bench eating an ice cream and chatting up some chick, it was great.

    😂😂 You obviously ate at Elton's too? We were sat at the table next to Garbs. His mrs looked flat out being 18 haha. 

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    BrightSpark
    3 hours ago, wengerboy said:

     

    I think it would be better to play Newcastle so their supporters can come, make it a neutral vennue.

    Someone should suggest to the Jets to start hosting their community matches at Mudgee against us.

    That way we can go back there twice as often. ;)

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    Hughesy
    22 hours ago, Davo said:

    Match aside, which for the most part was a hot dumpster fire, small town football is awesome.

    From the locals getting right behind it, to having dinner at the same tiny restaurant as Garby trying to get romantic with his missus, to walking back to the car at night and seeing Henrique sitting on a bench eating an ice cream and chatting up some chick, it was great.

    My missus and I were sitting opposite them at that restaurant and witnessed the whole thing too haha I was blushing at one point it was getting that steamy. Looked like they were about to film a porno lol

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    andypk
    15 hours ago, wengerboy said:

     

    I think it would be better to play Newcastle so their supporters can come, make it a neutral vennue.

    Great idea but Newcastle fans would be travelling just as far as us. Unfortunately Mudgee doesn’t have enough accommodation available

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    Zelinsky
    On 11/11/2018 at 8:52 AM, HillsWanderer said:

    Can someone explain to me why Fitzgerald was taken off. I thought he was doing ok.

    MB in the press conference: "Our worst game. [...] If you can't win you don't have to lose. [...]. We brought Brisbane back in the game. [...] We lose our structure. [...] The performances before were much better than today".

    Looking at the build up to the penalty for the Roar which happened on Fitzgerald's side, I'd go so far to say that Fitzgerald didn't follow instructions, and Sotirio came in to secure a point. Which means that Sotirio does what Fitzgerald doesn't: track back and defend.

    Worst game, loss of structure - it appears we were missing Sloppy Roly a great deal on Saturday.

     

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    WSWFF
    10 minutes ago, FCB said:

    Looking at the build up to the penalty for the Roar which happened on Fitzgerald's side, I'd go so far to say that Fitzgerald didn't follow instructions, and Sotirio came in to secure a point. Which means that Sotirio does what Fitzgerald doesn't: track back and defend.

    Worst game, loss of structure - it appears we were missing Sloppy Roly a great deal on Saturday.

     

    Blaming Fitzgerald for ABJ's brain snap is a bit rich. We lost (it felt like a loss) this game in the middle of the park. ABJ had his worst game this season, Matt Mackay of all people overran him. As the game wore on ABJ struggled to make any passes stick and when he wasn;t fouled he was regularly caught with the ball. If anything sloppy Roly might have been a decent option to change the middle of the park, because the wings were working better than they have all year. Fitzy was involved in the leadup to both goals and once he went off no-one else seemed able to pick out Kamau's clever runs.

    I thought both of Babbels substitutions weakened the side and didn;t address the real problems. His post match presser to me felt like more of a deflection of blame.  

    Also wanted to add, the whole Mudgee experience was wonderful. Both my lads thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience, and we will definitely now look at maybe a late season away trip somewhere if finances permit.

     

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    StringerBellend

    Our problem in the middle is we a lack a dominating defensive midfielder. Brisbane started getting on top there, we got out muscled / kicked. In part that was why Babbel brought Mahazi on. Mahazi isn’t the answer,  it that’s all we have at the moment. Maybe we’ll put Ziegler there until we can bring somebody in. Anyone know when Tokich is back?

    Edited by StringerBellend
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    Zelinsky
    1 hour ago, WSWFF said:

    Blaming Fitzgerald for ABJ's brain snap is a bit rich.

     

    I am not. However, Bautheac had a lot of space for much of the first half, Fitzgerald was not with him, was not physical enough. In the build up to the equalizer it looked like Fitzgerald was again not where he was meant to be, and Treejack moved in instead. That's what Babbel was trying to address when he replaced Fitzgerald with Sotirio.  In my opinion anyway.

     

    30 minutes ago, StringerBellend said:

    Our problem in the middle is we a lack a dominating defensive midfielder.

    Indeed, Lopez was running rings around JoD when he scored the first goal.

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    WSWFF

    In the build up to the equaliser Fitzgerald had the wide man (Hingert I think) who gave Bauthiac the ball. Bauthiac was always Treejacks (or a covering defensive mid) in that situation. You cannot deny he is a lazy defender, which is fine when he is setting up more goals than he is giving away. I admire your support of the coach. Lets hope its onwards and upwards from here

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    MistahCampoy
    35 minutes ago, FCB said:

    Indeed, Lopez was running rings around JoD when he scored the first goal.

    I agree Lopez figured out our midfield after the first 25-30 mins and stopped them in their tracks and we struggled once rest of the Roars midfield and defense switched on.. We should have killed the game off in the first 30 but things like this happen and they got lucky from Lopez hitting the post and deflecting in, if that had not gone in then we could have seen a different second half.

    Edited by MistahCampoy
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    Smoggy
    27 minutes ago, Johnno said:

    great trip, would like to give a shout out to the Brisbane roar fan in the yellow onesie, although may I suggest, the normal response to a 5yo calling you Pikachu is not to yell back: "Im a f*&(ing Lion"

    and yes, you do look like Pikachu

     

     

     

    Ha..:D.i was behind him in the sausage sizzle line and stood near him for a little while over in that corner.

    I didnt know it was a lion or that he was a roar fan...just thought some random bloke in a onesie :D

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    Wanderboy

    I briefly broke away from the march to take a few pics and a video, and I came across a B R fan. I said to him "WTF are you doing here buddy?" and his reply was "I'm the token Roar fan". Lol. We laughed, shook hands and went our separate ways.

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    Smoggy
    59 minutes ago, Wanderboy said:

    I briefly broke away from the march to take a few pics and a video, and I came across a B R fan. I said to him "WTF are you doing here buddy?" and his reply was "I'm the token Roar fan". Lol. We laughed, shook hands and went our separate ways.

    Seen at least 10 roar fans on my journey around the stadium.

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