The first Sydney Derby of the 2022/23 A-League season served as a temporary pre-World Cup farewell to the A-League and a welcome to the derby for the new Sydney Football Stadium. A tight, tense affair saw the deadlock broken late in the game with a Kusini Yengi thunderbolt to give the Wanderers an emotional victory, their 100th win in the A-League.
Sydney FC were forced into a number of changes, particularly in defence with Alex Wilkinson injured, Paulo Retre suspended and former Wanderer Jack Rodwell still yet to make his Sydney FC debut. The Wanderers added Yeni N'Gabakoto to their squad to possibly make his first appearance in Red & Black.
The opening 10 minutes was cagey and rough, neither side could find an advantage while both teams were physical in the challenge, Marcelo in particular was tasked with keeping Patrick Wood quiet and he did so strongly, sending the young forward crashing to the turf to clear a header. 17 minutes in Calem Nieuwenhof had the first decent chance of the game, after the Wanderers attacked down their right flank, and the clearance fell to the midfielder, who managed to bring it down enough for a shot that deflected away for a corner that didn't go to plan but still ended in a blocked shot for Tomislav Mrcela.
Yengi was inches away from opening the scoring, a lofted ball over the top caught the Sydney FC defence totally square, Yengi rushed onward, with Redmayne coming out of his goal the Wanderers striker couldn't get a toe to send it around Andrew Redmayne. Nieuwenhof picked up the first yellow card of the game after a half hour for a midfield challenge, a harsh booking when it wasn't stopping a promising attack or overly forceful. Borrello forced Redmayne into giving away a corner with a low powered shot that the keeper didn't take any chances with. The corner was whipped in and head tennis results with Marcelo finding his defensive partner Mrcela who sent it over the bar with his own header.
SFC sprang to life with 5 minutes in the half left, counter-attacking quickly with Anthony Caceres striding forward and firing at Thomas, the rebound producing a corner that Thomas rose to claim easily. Rhyan Grant got away with a series of professional fouls from Alex King, including a blatant body check on Nieuwenhof that killed a Wanderers counter stone dead but wasn't punished with a yellow card. The half ended shortly after, at 0-0 with no clear cut chances for either side having been created.
Sydney FC came out firing, with Robert Mak cutting back inside on the byline to shoot, Thomas palmed the ball back into the middle of the penalty area where it rebounded from Romain Amalfitano back to the keeper. Yengi took advantage of a mistake from James Donachie, it allowed Yengi to run into the box, from a wide angle he elected to shoot rather than a cutback to Krpic, his shot flashed wide of the far post.
Milos Ninkovic had spent the week as the centre of the pre-game drama, after leaving Sydney FC in controversial circumstances, he had spent the first hour being booed by his former fan then butchered a gilt edge chance to silence 70% of the crowd. He was clean in on goal after the defence parted like the red sea, he had all the time in the world and in the end, too much time, not managing a strong shot at goal to the delight of the blue portion of the massive crowd.
The game was begging for a moment of brilliance and it was delivered by Yengi, and begun by Ninkovic. The Serbian maestro pushed forward, creating panic in the Sydney defence, he found a perfect ball to Yengi. With a lot of work to do he cut back once, twice, onto his right boot and rocketed the ball into the roof of the net with Redmayne having no chance. The scorer ran off to the RBB, being mobbed by the fans and his team-mates. Borrello had a similar chance to Ninkovic's with a similar result.
Yengi took his leave of the game as the Wanderers first sub, with Yeni N'Gbakoto making his debut with a 10 minute cameo as the game was tightly poised at 1-0 to the visitors. Adrian Segecic had a point blank shot in the 89th minute, he was unmarked as Gabriel Cleur was claiming offside instead of marking a player, perhaps the occasion getting the better of the youngster and he fired over.
Luke Brattan took a long range effort from a cleared corner with just minutes remaining. Ninkovic was simultaneously applauded and booed off the pitch with his 94th minute, time wasting substitution for Alessandro Lopane, who almost immediately picked up a yellow card for clattering into Gerd.
Brattan's last second chop down as Nieuwenhof strode forward on a counter should have been punished with a straight red, but Alex King bottled the decision as a general melee broke out in the middle of the pitch. Sydney FC were clearly frustrated at their poor performance, being totally outplayed in yet another Derby. As the 97th minute ticked over, King finally blew the full time whistle, giving the Wanderers their first win in the SFS for 9 long years. It was a completely deserved win, a tough fought match with the touch of class from Yengi that blew the game open. The away end exploded in joy, celebrating both the derby win, the performance and rising back up to 2nd place on the A-League ladder.
The A-League goes on a month long World Cup break, the resumption is set for Saturday the 10th of December with an away trip to face Wellington Phoenix in their erstwhile home of Wollongong.
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