The Western Sydney Wanderers demolished the Central Coast Mariners to storm back into A-League finals contention, an attacking masterclass that saw Zac Sapsford, Jack Clisby & Nicolas Milanovic score in the first half with Marcus Antonsson putting the finishing touch on the match midway through the second half from the penalty spot.
Central Coast were stunned in the early going by a pair of goals to the visitors. In front of the travelling RBB the Wanderers raced out to a 2-0 lead inside 15 minutes. The first goal coming from a horrendous mistake by Adam Pavlesic. The former SFC keeper was playing his first A-League game for his new employers and he made a complete mess of a goal kick from defender Anthony Pantazopoulos as he tried to hit the long run of Borrello. Instead of Borrello it was caught by the wind, flying clear of Borrello but misjudged by the onrushing goalkeeper 30 yards out from goal, bounced just enough to slice off the top of his head and presented Sapsford with a tap-in as the ball bounced toward goal with no defender inside 40 yards.
Clisby started and finished the second, pouncing in the midfield to steal the ball from Mikael Doka 20 yards out from goal, he played a near 1-2 pass with Sapsford finding the fullback with a backheel. Clisby's first touch put it onto his left foot and the second found the back of the net.
Another VAR failure that went against the Wanderers occurred half and hour in. Milanovic threaded a through ball in behind the Mariners defence for a run by Bozhidar Kraev, the Bulgarian striker was tripped from behind in clear view of every fan and everyone on TV. Referee Adam Kersey was apparently watching a different game entirely as he ignored the trip, and VAR compounded his obvious error by failing to tell Kersey to stop the game and review it. It was a baffling abdication of duty by the VAR that has taken a microscope to any goal the Wanderers score where there is even a hint of a foul in the build up going back minutes in the past.
Mariners thought they had a goal back when Lawrence Thomas was shoved back into his own net by Alou Koul who also managed to handle the ball as it fell into the Wanderers net. Thankfully the ref was watching this time and rightly disallowed the goal. The Wanderers scored their third up seconds later with a wicked deflection from a long shot that touched Milanovic on the way through and sent Pavlesic the other way. The teams headed into the sheds with the Mariners having few chances and the Wanderers having far more opportunities to score than the already big 3-0 scoreline suggested.
Antonsson and Mo Al-Taay came on in the 64th minute with Sapsford & Preistman departing. Antonsson's introduction was quickly followed by him winning a penalty and after a second attempt, putting away the penalty to put the Wanderers four goals in front. He rounded the keeper from another decisive through ball, and had his stride broken by the right arm of Pavlesic who sent him tumbling down. The first pen was taken with a stutter step before the shot, Pavlesic jumped a mile early and made the save with the benefit of his encroachment. VAR as it does nowadays stopped the game to order the retake and Antonsson made no mistake with the second attempt.
The Mariners tried but had no end product, the game petering out in the final 20 minutes as the Wanderers shut up shop and allowed Juan Mata, Aydan Hammond & Alex Gersbach to get some time into their legs before the match against Perth next weekend. The win puts Western Sydney into 3rd place pending the remainder of the round and for the other teams to catch up in games played.
The Wanderers next match is against Perth Glory in Parramatta on Sunday the 2nd of March with kick-off at 5:00PM.
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