The Wanderers faced Brisbane Roar at Parramatta this Saturday night needing a win to stay alive in the A-League finals race, only for a calamitous error from keeper Daniel Margush to hand the Roar a very late equaliser.
Brisbane were almost in front within a minute, after they picked the ball up in midfield an immediate long bomb over the top caught Tomislav Mrcela square, he was outpaced by Cyrus Dehmie. After bringing the ball to the pitch via a knee and a second touch with the foot he shot from the edge of the area on his left, cutting it back across goal, beating the dive of Margush but slicing it wide.
The Wanderers found the back of the net in the 41st minute. James Troisi played a neat pass into the area for the run of Jack Rodwell, his first time cross was fired hard enough and with Bernie Ibini putting pressure on, Roar defender Jack Hingert could do nothing more than to turn the ball behind into the net for an own goal.
In the dying seconds Western Sydney almost had a 2nd, when Keanu Baccus flicked the ball on at the near post, denied by a desperate flap from the Roar keeper that scooped the ball back out without it crossing the line.
On the hour mark the Roar put together a neat passing move inside the Wanderers box, it ended with substitute Luke Ivanovic getting a deflection off Mrcela that sent the ball over the bar for a corner.
Things went from bad to worse for the Roar when their captain Tom Aldred picked up his second yellow card for chopping down Rodwell after a classy turn on the side of the field. Referee Jack Morgan didn't hesitate with the cards and Aldred walked forlornly off the pitch having put his team under massive pressure in a game they were already losing.
Brisbane thought they had equaliser in the 86th minute, with Alex Parsons turning on the ball and firing it past Margush's right hand. He was however offside when the ball deflected off the pack and so play continued with a free kick to the home side.
With the match meandering to a Wanderers win, Daniel Margush decided to enter the Wanderers Terrible Goalkeeping Hall Of Fame with a mistake that topped the disasters of the Vedran Janjetovic era. A long distance back-pass was horribly controlled by Margush, the ball getting tangled in his legs with multiple touches unable to get it out from under him.
He attempted to dribble past Parsons, instead the striker closed him down, stole the ball off him and with an open net, Margush elected to drag him down in a tackle that Peter Sterling would have been proud of. It was the worst possible outcome in that situation. He could have picked it up for an indirect free kick. He could have kicked it over the byline for a corner. He could have let the Roar player score and give his team a few minutes with the one man advantage to win it. It was the most obvious red card Jack Morgan will ever hand out in his career as a referee and it sent Jay O'Shea to the spot, at least once Tomas Mejias came on in place of Bernie Ibini. O'Shea made no mistake, beating Mejias, levelling the game & neither team could add to the score in the frantic final seconds.
The draw didn't help either team's tiny hopes of making the finals, and it would surely take a miracle from here for either side to squeak into 6th place.
Western Sydney's next match is against the Central Coast Mariners, in Parramatta on Wednesday the 13th of April with kickoff at 7:05pm.
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