Red & Black Christmas Cracker

[mack]

The Wanderers hit back from a dismal last round draw to dominate a tired looking Wellington Phoenix and win the game 4-1 to deliver three points heading into Christmas.

An injury to Anthony Pantazopoulos saw Dean Pelekanos make his first A-League start. Rumours of a lack of Jack Clisby or Brandon Borrello were unfounded and both started. Juan Mata continued his bench-bound existence with Dylan Scicluna & Joshua Brillante favoured in midfield while Jesse Cameron had an opportunity to make his A-League debut off the bench.

The game began brilliantly for the Wanderers, a poor ball forward turned to gold when Phoenix left fullback Isaac Hughes slipped base over apex, Borrello had run in behind and kept himself onside. This left him with a simple cutback to Zac Sapsford, who was left unmarked by a Nix defence more eager to run towards their goal-line than to mark an opponent. The right foot finish was perfect, beating a defensive block and giving keeper Josh Oluwayemi no chance. 1-0 in th 47th second for one of the quickest goals so far this season.

In the 9th minute Western Sydney made it 2-0 with a sumptuous team goal, Nicolas Milanovic pounced in the midfield to steal the ball away from Tim Payne, he ran deep into the Nix half, found Borrello on the right inside the box and with the Yellow-shirted defence at Nixes and Sevens, his touch inside was met by the boot of Bozhidar Kraev and he slammed in his second goal of the A-League season and the first against his former club.

Wellington stabilised in the next half hour, but with no real threats. The closest was a through ball for Kosta Barbarouses that Lawrence Thomas ran out to the edge of his area and with a slide tackle cleared the ball away when any mistake threatened a penalty or red card. There was a brief drinks break and then one for a potential concussion check for Alex Bonetig. Borrello had an ambitious left foot strike in the 33rd minute, a volley from a Sapsford setup that looked for all money to be heading into the back of the net only to reverse swing like a cricket ball away from the post. The final chance came from Hideki Ishige, the Japanese midfielder blasting it into the RBB from a mile away when the better option was clearly to keep running forward. The 2-0 lead was well deserve, the Nix having trouble impressing themselves on the game at either end, making mistakes in defence and having trouble dealing with the Wanderers pressing.

Giancarlo Italiano made two changes at the break, taking off the ineffective duo Sam Sutton & Paulo Retre and replacing them with two young palyers in Nathan Barry Walker & Matthew Sheridan. 10 minutes into the half Milanovic smashed the ball off the near post with a slight deflection, and not long after he took one of his trademark cuts onto his left for a curling effort that just flew wide.

Despite the good start the Wanderers allowed the Nix back into the game with a gift for the visitors first goal of the game. For more than a minute the defence lazily passed it back and sideways, Wellington inevitably figured they had to put some pressure on the passes and it paid dividends after watching 25 passes, Lawrence Thomas picked out a Wellington attacker. Sheridan and Payne played a 1-2, the combination & run beat Clisby on the flank, the cross was touched by Thomas but not enough to clear. It popped up at the back stick where an attacking header bounced off Ishige's chest and from 2 yards out his only option was an overhead kick that he roofed under the crossbar to make it 2-1.

Alen Stajcic sent for reinforcements with Sapsford & Kraev leaving for Aydan Hammond & Marcus Antonsson, the Swedish supersub having an instant impact as he restored the Wanderers two goal lead in the 66th minute. Hammond opened the space on the right for Gabriel Cleur's overlapping run, Antonsson was in the perfect position at the near post and a first time cross met a first time shot from point-blank range past the keeper with Antonsson's first touch of the match making it 3-1.

The two subs combined again to create chances, Milanovic finding a great run from Antonsson and his short pass gave Hammond a clear sight on goal that Oluwayemi came out strongly to save. Off the rebounds the Nix were lucky to avoid an own goal with a pinball moment 6 yards out with multiple deflections ended with a Nix goal kick. Italiano emptied the bench with 15 to go, a triple sub with Kazuki Nagasawa, Ishige and Huges off for Lukas Kelly-Heald, Luke Brooke-Smith & former Wanderers youth prospect Mohamed Al-Taay on. Stajic used his second sub window to introduce Mata & James Temelkovski for Borrello & Brillante. Bonetig made a great play in defence when the Nix countered and created a 2 on 1 situation, he spotted the danger of a cross to the far post and just managed to reach out to prevent the tap-in. Clisby made way late for Preistman, causing a reshuffle in the defensive line. In the final seconds Thomas saved the team from a nervous last minute with a point blank save and recovery from an unmarked shot by Corban Piper.

Dylan Scicluna had been a monster in the midfield and he was seeking his first goal in the A-League all game long and he had it in the 94th minute with a wonderful long range strike. A wild sequence of crosses, blocks, shots that ended with the ball at the feet of Scicluna, who took aim, fire and scored from 20 yards out with a rocket onto the crossbar and over the line. VAR threatened to intervenue but eventually let the goal stand and full time came with the Wanderers taking all 3 points with their 4-1 win jumping them into 6th place before the final game of the round between Macarthur & the Mariners will put at least one of them back ahead on points.

The Wanderers next match is against Adelaide United in Adelaide on Friday the 27th of December with kick-off at 7:35PM EDT.

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[pseudonym]

Yew! Sister Cities Shield! 

Where's ya treble now Coasties?

[mack]

1 minute ago, pseudonym said:

Where's ya treble now Coasties?

Non-existent.

[Neverbloom]

Was actually great to watch, don't want to get ahead of myself because Wellington are not exactly top of the table but looked 100 times better than against Brisbane 

[immortalshogun]

For all the talk in the media about how ESFC are the elite team this year, we’re above them and we’re a yoyo at best for form. Hows that work? lol

[Sithslayer1991]

Not all heroes wear capes. But Bonetig really stepped up today. 2 clutch defensive saves in the dying minutes. There is a good defender in there and he showed it today

[scarcev]

We were good today and the slip for the early goal always had Wellington in trouble, they were never going to overrun us, their 5pm kick off record in Australia is abysmal (so a punting mate told me) but we also had plenty of good players out there today. The teamwork and passing was the best I have seen this season and some of those goals were impossible to defend. Apart from the first 10mins in the second half Nix offered nothing and I know it was only a cameo, but the last few times Antonssen has come on he looks a different player than the average one we had before.

[Zelinsky]

Entertaining game. More of the same please.

The market was empty when Stajcic took over in June, and did not sign a single senior domestic player with AL quality. Forced to play the youngens which can be hit and miss, and today they were doing more than ok.

Thank goodness Rudan is gone, but Clisby is terrible. 

[Nathg]

I would much rather Staj persist with the youngsters. Mata offers no more than some of these players, who are much more hungry and set to prove themselves. Keep him on the bench.

[EmMac]

A win Nice way to enter the Xmas holidays... onwards 💪

[pseudonym]

Zapsford is the 2nd WSW player to score in the first minute of an A league match

The 1st player was Nicholas Martinez

https://www.ultimatealeague.com/match/?match_id=1588

[Sithslayer1991]

35 minutes ago, Nathg said:

I would much rather Staj persist with the youngsters. Mata offers no more than some of these players, who are much more hungry and set to prove themselves. Keep him on the bench.

Zapsford, Scilcluna and Bonetig are really growing with each game. They aren't the finished article but they are really taking their chances, its great to see a good number take their chance this season.

 

The socials may be screaming for Mata but neither Scicluna nor Sapsford have given any reason to be dropped.

[StringerBellend]

Just now, Sithslayer1991 said:

Zapsford, Scilcluna and Bonetig are really growing with each game. They aren't the finished article but they are really taking their chances, its great to see a good number take their chance this season.

 

The socials may be screaming for Mata but neither Scicluna nor Sapsford have given any reason to be dropped.

As much as I'm "Mata in" can't disagree Scicluna and Sapsford have been ace. I love Sapsford 

[SNS100]

I know Pelekanos is a midfielder, but I can see him partnering Bonetig long-term. Has all the attributes to make solid centre back. 

So happy for Dylan Scicluna. Played well, scored his first goal. Hopefully he becomes a consistent performer. Didn't look out of place when he moved to left back late in the game either. 

Other than his Marconi highlights, I haven't watched much of Temelkoski, but I have a good feeling about this kid. 

Antonsson and Hammond look like a great super-sub pairing. Great impact by both off the bench. 

Stajout😅

Edited 12 hours ago by SNS100

[102megan]

Scicluna’s the greatest. 🇲🇹🙌

[Erebus]

My 5yo keeps asking where Simmons is. And I've brainwashed him so much that throughout the game he keeps saying "why is Clisby not being taken off?" 😂

[MathyouWSW]

Outstanding performance from the squad. You could not ask for a better performance from the squad today.

I decided to  watch the game at a club in Liverpool by myself and I was surrounded by a bunch of older fellas that had all different European backgrounds. When Wellington scored, I heard one of them curse in their language and then I heard "Clisby" so I going to assume they also don't like Clisby, I did have a chuckle at myself.

Antonsson is finally getting shots provided to him which is exactly what is needed. Sapsford has cemented his spot in the squad and Scicluna would of been my man of the match contender for today. Please keep him, Sapsford, Bonetig, Hammond and Pantazopoulos (I know he didn't play today due to injury) as long as possible at the club.

I think Pelekanos did well today at centre back. It is good to see him back at the Red & Black.

The squad is back in the top 6 and more importantly, we're above the Cows and Smurfs. What a great Christmas gift.

[StringerBellend]

Anyone know what the crowd was couldn't have been much 

[102megan]

Who would like more things to smile at??

 

- Wanderers (women and men) didn’t lose this weekend, and Sydney FC (women and men) didn’t win this weekend  

- Wanderers are higher than Sydney FC on BOTH the women’s and men’s tables.

 

[HillsPanther]

I didn't watch the game, as I am in Central America and the time difference meant the game was on at midnight. So I was pleasantly surprised when I woke up to the result. The Wanderers have been consistently inconsistent this season. It was good to see that Batman strikes again.

Edited 9 hours ago by HillsPanther

[matty]

4 hours ago, 102megan said:

Who would like more things to smile at??

 

- Wanderers (women and men) didn’t lose this weekend, and Sydney FC (women and men) didn’t win this weekend  

- Wanderers are higher than Sydney FC on BOTH the women’s and men’s tables.

 

You should work in PR with that positive spin. 

We're 6th and 11th 

[Hughesy]

Geez we can score goals. Not a single game so far that we haven’t and our last 6 games straight we’ve scored at least 2 or more. When Wellington scored we could’ve dropped our heads and repeated the past several weeks but to the boys credit, they dug their heels in. Well deserved and I think that’ll give them lots of confidence

[Paul01]

8 hours ago, StringerBellend said:

Anyone know what the crowd was couldn't have been much 

6341 according to the OneFootball app

[StringerBellend]

2 hours ago, Paul01 said:

6341 according to the OneFootball app

Felt like even less but given the oppressive heat people had gone up that top and spread out.

 

Edited 16 minutes ago by StringerBellend