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The Western Sydney Wanderers came into their clash against 6th place Melbourne Victory knowing that a win for the home side would catapult them back into 1st place on the A-League ladder, only to fall to an astonishing four goal haul from Victory's talisman Bruno Fornaroli that cancelled out a brace for Marcus Antonsson and a debut goal for Valentino Yuel.

Milos Ninkovic continued to be absent but the Wanderers were lifted by Captain Marcelo starting after his achilles scare from last weekend. Victory chose to start Connor Chapman at right fullback in place of Jason Geria who was dropped to the bench.

The opening 5 minutes were awful for the Red & Black, they surrendered completely to the Victory, some 90% of the play taking place in the Wanderers defensive half. Their first big chance came from Zinedine Machach robbing Josh Brillante in the midfield and launching a quick long range bomb that Lawrence Thomas went down to his right to knock away. The start went from bad to worse in the 7th minute, Marcelo failed to clear a cross far enough, it fell to Machach who smashed it at goal. Thomas could do nothing more than palm it straight into the path of Bruno Fornaroli, the A-League's 3rd place all time goalscorer and seasonal golden boot leader and he couldn't miss an open net from 3 yards out.

It took 15 minutes for the Wanderers to put together a chance, a long ball for Nicolas Milanovic that he quickly found Antonsson, the striker shooting just wide. Marcelo then should have scored from a subsequent corner, he made powerful contact up high but aimed it straight at Paul Izzo. There was a brief delay as Izzo might have stubbed his hand or a finger on the turf or the ball.

On the shadows of half-time Fornaroli had his second, and Victory a 2-0 lead assisted by terrible defense from Tate Russell in particular. Fornaroli's front position on Tom Beadling allowed him to touch the ball on for Machach, this drew in Marcelo allowing a return ball to Fornaroli. Russell came across as cover but inexcusably declined to press the striker, caring more about the potential cutback than a shot. He backed off and gave Fornaroli a clear sight 7 yards out and he was never going to miss a one on one in the form he was in.

After a terrible half it was clear changes were needed and they came in the form of Oscar Preistman and Aidan Simmons at the expense of Lachlan Brook and Russell. It took 3 minutes for Victory to win a penalty. An aimless cross from Chapman smashed into the extended arm of Clisby, a truly moronic decision in the new handball law era. While it might not have been inside the box, the lack of cameras to come up with the right decision meant the award stood, and Fornaroli obliterated the ball into the back of the net for his hat-trick.

In the 54th minute the Wanderers picked up a penalty of their own with Chapman, having won the first penalty with his cross, committing a handball of his own in the box. Marcus Antonsson stepped up following a short VAR check and fired past Izzo to pull the match back to 3-1. There was a lot of fire and bluster as the Wanderers tried to push themselves back into the contest, Milanovic firing a fierce shot that hit the side netting.

Fornaroli scored his 100th A-League goal and his fourth for the day in the 74th minute. Hendrix gave away a cheap foul on the sideline, the free kick lobbed into the near post area and Fornaroli rose above Simmons and Brillante, made clean contact and headed it past the full length dive from Thomas.

Valentino Yuel came on for his Wanderers debut. Marcus Younis came on as well, making an instant, albiet illegal impact after getting on a ball over the top, playing it back for Antonsson who scored from point blank range. The flag went up and it was a correct call, Younis straying offside on his initial run. Antonsson got a second chance for his second and he took it, with no offside flag to cancel it out. A great ball in from the right by the debutante Yuel, Antonsson met it with his trusty head and nailed it to bring the game back to 4-2 as it entered 6 minutes of stoppage time.

In the first of those six minutes the Wanderers finally took a chance from a set piece, a long range wide free kick that was delivered perfectly for a diving head from Yuel, his bleached blonde locks connecting to make it 4-3 with just minutes remaining. The final chance fell to Yuel but as he broke into the final 3rd the flag went up for an offside, the restart coming with the final whistle.

Another classic case of the WSW defence falling apart and the entire team waiting until they went multiple goals behind to show any level of intensity. Three goals doesn't help when you can't stop your opponents scoring four. It was the first loss of the season and dropped the club down to 5th place on the ladder. 

The Wanderers next match is against Adelaide United on Friday 15th at Parramatta with kick-off at 7:45pm.