Wanderers Live Another Day In Finals Hunt

The Western Sydney Wanderers are now relying on Melbourne City failing to defeat Western United on Sunday as they turned a 2 goal deficit around to take an astonishing 4-3 win against Melbourne Victory in Melbourne tonight.

Marko Rudan made a raft of changes. Marcus Antonsson's horrid run of form that has left him goal-less stretching back to the 1st of January saw him not make the trip to Melbourne, Aidan Simmons was dropped to the bench, Alex Bonetig & Sonny Kittel were also left out entirely with Kittel hurt. Coming in were the returns of Nicolas Milanovic & Lachlan Brook from international duty with Dylan Scicluna at right fullback.

Zac Sapsford opened up the game by striking the first shot in anger after just 10 seconds, the young gun winning a corner from the save by Izzo. The corner was picked up at the near post by the Victory defence and the second ball fired well over the bar by Oscar Preistman.

The Wanderers shot themselves in the foot in the 4th minute, a horrible back pass from Milanovic on the half-way line that bisected the central defensive pair and allowed Bruno Fornaroli on a run into the area. His first touch was wide and heavy but he recovered for a cutback to Zinedine Machach, and his finish was an unusual strike directly into the ground with the ball then looping over Lawrence Thomas in the same fashion a deflection from a boot coming across to block might, a shot that apparently made popular by Mesut Ozil in the late 2010's.

Victory doubled their lead in the 15th minute, Marcelo misplaced a simple ball out of defence, Traore's low cross made it's way through to Daniel Arzani and he blasted a left foot strike past the blocking defenders and beat Thomas as he couldn't come back toward his near post in time to make a save.

Lachlan Brook pulled a goal back in the 19th minute, a move that begun with erstwhile central defender charging forward, finding Brook who lifted the ball in the air with his first touch and his second was a smashing volley on his left past Paul Izzo.

Milanovic found himself with a tap-in to level the match in the 34th minute, a right side raid with Scicluna, Marcelo and Dylan Pierias contributing to a move that ended with Milanovic in acres of space as the defence didn't react quick enough to stop his 9th goal of the A-League season.

Fornaroli was denied minutes after the leveller. Machach and Arzani combined with Fornaroli's run resulting in him flicking the ball toward goal. Thomas got a piece of the shot and turned quickly to gather as it spun on the line but not over.

A breathless first half ended with a penalty shout on Jack Clisby, he looked to be dragged down by his defender but Melbourne were rescued by an offside flag. VAR didn't bother looking into it further despite a replay showing that he could very well have been played on by an interior defender before being pulled down before the ball even reached him. For such a critical moment in a critical match, it just compounds the view that the VAR doesn't take it's duty as seriously as it should, and is another example of it going against the Wanderers. Tony Popovic made two changes at the break, Roly Bonevacia and Chris Ikonomidis taken off after their minimal contributions, Ryan Teague & Nishan Velupillay on in their stead.

There was another controversial moment as Marcelo appeared to be punched in the chest by Machach, who went down in a heap. He won a foul but nothing more, and VAR didn't intervene again.

The Wanderers chances of playing finals went from bad to worse as Arzani popped up with a double. He was left in an acre of space on the edge of the area, as the Wanderers defence failed to anticipate the ball being moved on by Machach. Arzani was given enough time to aim his shot on his left that banged off the foot of one of the Wanderers and flew past Thomas into the back of the net.

The typical hour mark substitutes came with young tyros Aydan Hammond and Marcus Younis entering for Milanovic and Pierias. Melbourne continued their unsporting behaviour with Fornaroli delaying a throw in by getting in the face of Scicluna. Marcelo had a trio of chances from corners, from either side of the pitch but ultimately directed in a non-threatening manner.

With 20 to go Brook & Sapsford left the park for a young & old duo of players at either end of their careers. 20 year old Nathaniel Blair came on for his 6th A-League game, while 39 year old Milos Ninkovic arrived for his 446th senior league appearance, to go with his 100+ continental & cup games and his 28 caps for Serbia. Victory also had a player making his last league appearance, Leigh Broxham who made his 385th A-League appearance to extend his lead as the A-League player with the most games played.

The 72nd minute the Wanderers made it all square again in an unusual fashion. A hopeful long ball into the box found the head of Younis, knocking it down for Blair who was about to smash it past Izzo only to be cut down from behind in what would have been a red card & penalty. Instead the referee played an advantage, allowing Hammond to run onto the ball, shoot and hit either Roderick Miranda or Blair who was lying in an offside position or both of them. The VAR checked and allowed the goal to stand after deciding it had only hit Miranda and making it 3-3 with the Wanderers needing to chase a winner to have a hope of playing in the finals. 

The final roll of the dice for Marko Rudan was bringing on Aidan Simmons for Jack Clisby, with Tony Popovic using his last substitute choice of Ben Folami for Machach.

Oscar Priestman turned what could have been a second yellow & red card into scoring an unlikely goal to give Western Sydney the lead. In the defensive end he was probably heading for an early shower for a clear second bookable offence only for Alireza to give him a reprieve by allowing an advantage for Fornaroli to shoot and miss. He then went up the other end, got on the end of a weak clearance, beat one defender to cut back onto his right, to shoot and get a lucky deflection that launched the ball over the desperate fingertip save attempt of Izzo. It was Priestman's first ever A-League goal and it gave the side something to hold on for the final minutes of stoppage time.

Lawrence Thomas made himself a hero when the defence opened up for Fornaroli to make a run in on goal, the cover defence of Scicluna did just enough to put off the golden boot chasing striker, and his low shot struck the left leg of Thomas, sending the keeper crashing to the turf with an apparent injury after colliding with Scicluna, but after a short period of treatment Thomas got back to his feet to stop Blair having to take the goalkeepers shirt as the team had no more subs to play barring a head injury replacement.

Victory ended up having 9 minutes of stoppage time but apart from the Fornaroli chance they were unable to find any more threats on goal. The win secured the Wanderers a final chance to make the finals, as Melbourne City now require a win against Western United on Sunday that would put them in the finals and knock the Wanderers out.

Even if the result doesn't go the way it needs, this match has perhaps shown a route forward, with the younger players like Priestman, Sapsford and later on Hammond, Younis and Blair showing they can match it in the A-League and showing more fight and determination than many of the expensive foreigners like Kittel and Antonsson have this season.

The Wanderers have completed the A-League regular season. If Melbourne City fail to defeat Western United then the Wanderers will play Melbourne Victory in Week 1 of the finals in Melbourne. If Melbourne City win, the season is over for the Wanderers.

Sunday Addendum - Unfortunately for the Wanderers their season has come to a close. Melbourne City defeated Western United by 1-0, putting them in 6th place with WSW completing the season in 7th and out of the finals positions.