The Western Sydney Wanderers travelled to Brisbane with the chance to get back in the A-League top 4 with a win against the Brisbane Roar. After a promising first 20 minutes that saw Kwame Yeboah score the opener, the Wanderers were off the pace for the remainder of the game and ended up sharing the points with the Roar scoring the equaliser through Riku Danazki.
With both sides making changes due to the Easter fixture pile up, the Carl Robinson elected to push James Troisi to the bench and the forced exclusion of Mark Natta saw the return of Tass Mourdoukoutas to the starting 11, with Bruce Kamau and Aquilina also coming in. Daniel Georgievski made his long awaited return to the team on the bench.
The Wanderers dominiated the early stages of the game and took the lead in the 11th minute. Bruce Kamau and Keanu Baccus's neat interplay took the ball inside the Roar penalty area, sucking in multiple Brisbane defenders and leaving Kwame Yeboah unmarked just inside the box. Baccus found the outlet ball to the striker and Yeboah's first time, sweeping left footed strike skimmed along the turf and found the net with Jamie Young having no chance.
While the Roar had a few chances they couldn't find much power or placement and the Wanderers solid defence kept them at bay. Yeboah was unlucky not to get his second in the 37th minute. After Bruce Kamau tangled with a pair of Brisbane defenders 35 yards from goal the ball fell to the advantage of Yeboah. The striker was a mile offside but as is the style at this time, the game continued through with Yeboah slamming his 1 v 1 chance into the back of the net. A short video review determined that the ball was last touched by Kamau, despite a foul by the Roar players and it was called back for a Wanderers free kick.
The second half was all Brisbane. Inside the first 5 minutes they should have scored 3 goals but had the settle for one. Joey Champness took advantage of poor defending to make a 60 yard run to the top of the penalty arc, a last ditch tackle from Tass Mourdoukoutas failed to stop the ball squeezing through for Danzaki who cut back inside Margush before finishing into an open net.
Not even a quadruple substitution shook the Wanderers out of their indolence, the Roar remained on top for the entire second half with precious little to show from the Wanderers. Their best chance in the second half fell to Mourdoukoutas who attacked an in-swinging corner but sliced the header wide. Brisbane blazed away, Margush keeping the draw with a wonderful diving save from a quick shot from Dylan Wenzel-Halls. Ultimately the match petered out with the Wanderers grateful for the final whistle, securing a point that does little to improve their finals chances with 11 games left to play.
The Wanderers face the resurgent Central Coast Mariners on Tuesday April 6 at Parramatta with kick-off at 7:05PM.
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