The worst on field 2nd half performance in the history of the young club saw the Western Sydney Wanderers hand Sydney FC their first home derby win by 3 goals to 1, all three for Sydney coming as a result of errors from the team from the West.
The Wanderers came into the match knowing they were let to lose, or even concede a goal at the Sydney Football Stadium in the derby. The first half proved typical derby fare, with neither side making an impact on the scoreboard as precious few chances appeared.
The game sprung into life early in the second half however. In the 48th minute a cross into the centre by Adam D'Apuzzo bounced off Brendon Santalab. The ball fell to the benefit of Shinji Ono, the Japanese international threw threw his right boot sideways to smash home from 6 yards out.
Mere minutes later it looked like the Wanderers would double their lead. A cross from the left flank by Bridge floated toward the back post, and Richard Garcia managed to drag down both Santalab and Youssouf Hersi as they attempted to attack the cross.
Even though normal #1 penalty taker Shinji Ono was on the field, it was Mark Bridge who took on the responsibility of the penalty. Janjetovic made a show of pointing to his left, and that was where Bridge hit is penalty, straight into the arms of Janjetovic. The miss was the clear turning point for the match and a Sydney FC comeback was inevitable.
On the hour mark it was the unusual source of Matt Jurman who levelled the game. Polenz had knocked down Garcia, giving Petkovic the chance to launch a ball into the mixer from deep on the Sydney FC left flank. Ante Covic came flying out of his goalmouth to punch, the ball sliced into the unknowing Jurman who collected his first ever A-League goal without trying.
In the 64th minute the entire stadium drew breath as Youssouf Hersi attempted an audacious long range effort. Hersi guided the ball toward the top right corner only for the flying Janjetovic to block the shot out for a corner. The resulting corner was hit long to Polenz who smashed a volley well wide.
New signing Golgol Mebrahtu was given his Western Sydney debut in place of Shinji Ono but suffered a disaster as he was injured seconds after entering play. Mebrahtu was then replaced by Labinot Haliti, and early reports are that the Mebrahtu injury is an anterior cruciate ligament injury that could see him out of action for potentially a year.
The evening turned into a nightmare for Western Sydney as Sydney FC took the lead as a result of one of the worst individual mistakes in the history of the A-League. Captain Michael Beauchamp received a short free kick from Ante Covic, and under no pressure decided to try to pass the ball back to the keeper. The pass was woeful, rolling 4 yards straight into the path of Garcia, who gleefully tapped into the open net as Covic dived desperately to block the shot even as he was out of the penalty area.
During stoppage time Jerome Polenz made the 4th major error of the night. The referee missed a blatant handball from a Sydney FC player and Polenz looked to catch the ball to play on from an expected foul only for referee Kris Griffiths-Jones to awarding a penalty against Polenz. Ali Abbas stepped up to fire home in front of the home support, Sydney FC winning their first Derby at home by three goals to one.
The Wanderers are making a habit of mistakes in recent weeks and it has cost the side any chance of retaining the Premiership, and may cost the club their Asian Champions League place if Adelaide continue to rise. In 2014 the Wanderers record stands at 6 losses, 2 draws and 3 wins, a stat that will not please manager Tony Popovic one bit.
The left side combination of Bridge and D'Apuzzo was toothless, their only bright notes being the aimless crosses from deep that lead to the lucky deflection to Ono for the first goal, and the penalty won that any competent defender would not have allowed themselves to give away. Their failure was compounded by Bridge missing a penalty. The likes of Haliti, Cole, Heffernan and Appiah will push for selection in the midweek ACL clash and our next A-League match against Adelaide.
The Wanderers next match is against Guizhou Renhe in the Asian Champions League group stage, in China on the 12th of March 2014.
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