Sydney FC were dominated on and off the pitch in the fourth Sydney Derby, with the Wanderers taking bragging rights with a 2-0 win.
In front of a record NSW regular season A-League crowd of 40,388 the Western Sydney Wanderers produced a storming first half that left the blue half of Sydney in shock & awe. Both of Sydney FC's expensive marquee players were absent due to injury, while for the Wanderers Aaron Mooy was not risked after his severe concussion suffered against Wellington the week prior.
With raucous away support cheering the Wanderers it was Iacopo La Rocca who opened the scoring. Rhyan Grant cut down Tomi Juric deep on the right flank and gave away the foul. Youssouf Hersi ran over the ball and left it for Shinji Ono. The Japanese genius delivered a pin-point cross on the edge of the 6 yard box. La Rocca's strength saw him get to the ball over Sydney defender Seb Ryall, and the Italian defender forced the ball home to the back post.
15 minutes later and it was Shinji Ono who doubled the Wanderers advantage. A quick paced attack by Hersi was cleared by Sydney FC but only as far as La Rocca, who turned the ball onto the flank for Polenz. His left footed cross was blocked and it skewed away to Ono. Attacking the ball he lifted it high into the air and attempted to nod the ball onward. Even with his path blocked by two defenders, Ono managed to control the ball with his knee, then while falling he flicked out a boot to shoot. His pin-point accurate shot evaded a full length dive by Vedran Janjetovic and nestled into the bottom right corner to send the away support into raptures. Ono ran off to celebrate with Tomi Juric in tow as Sydney pondered the prospect of another Derby defeat at their home.
Sydney's best chance of the game came from an audacious long-range free kick. Mateo Poljak was adjudged by referee Strebre Delovski to have come front behind on Richard Garcia. From nigh on 40 yards Nikola Petkovic lined up a thunderbolt strike that crashed off the woodwork.
On 79 minutes a lighting Wanderers attack down the right flank when Ono managed to turn the ball into the path of an on-rushing Shannon Cole who cut the ball back for Mateo Poljak. With all the time in the world and the the top left corner looming the Croatian midfielder blazed what would have been a match-sealing shot over the bar. The Poznan began in earnest and Mark Bridge should have done better with a golden chance, put through on goal by Poljak, Bridge had only the keeper to beat, but Seb Ryall managed to claw ground back and legally stopped Bridge from being able to shoot on target.
Sydney FC's inability to make an impact on the match is summed up by the fact that it took until a tame shot from 35 yards from Marc Warren in the 84th minute before they registered a shot on target.
Western Sydney had several chances to seal the match in front of their away support, but it wasn't required, they were in cruise control and Sydney FC were totally unable to put any pressure or score the one goal that would have created an interesting finish.
Western Sydney are now in 2nd place on the A-League ladder on 5 points, one behind leaders Brisbane. Sydney FC languish in 6th spot with a tough away trip to Perth in the offing.
The next Wanderers match is against Adelaide United on Friday the 2nd of November at Parramatta Stadium. Kick-off is 7:30PM.
Stay tuned to the @WestSydney twitter page and our Facebook Page for pictures from the match and discussion & news through-out the week.
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