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  • Western Sydney Wanderers again travelled up to Queensland to play their Round of 16 Australia Cup clash against Lions FC, finishing with an easy 4-0 win as the Lions failed to produce enough quality to trouble the travellers.

    The big news out of the Wanderers starting lineup was the absence of Australian international goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas. There was no word from the club as to the reason. New signing Jordan Holmes ineligible due to being cup tied having played in the Queensland qualifiers with former club Rochdale, it left 21 year old Tristan Vidackovic in the starting role, with Taiga Harper on the bench.

    Jesse Cameron came into the squad to make his starting debut with Gabriel Cleur out injureds. Zac Sapsford won out over Marcus Antonsson, Marcus Younis and Aydan Hammond for a starting attacking position alongside Brandon Borrello, Alex Badolato & Nicolas Milanovic. Lions FC's biggest names were former A-League players, the Kiwi international Matthew Ridenton and Josh Brindell-South and the Lions fans would be hoping for some trickery and verve from attacking talent Jack Skinner.

    Lions FC had a brilliant chance only 2 minutes into the game with Hassan Ramazani starting a move that turned into a wide cross into a free header inside the penalty area that the striker miscued badly. In the 6th minute the Wanderers broke the Lions high defensive line with a Borrello run in behind that was turned into a chance for Badolato blocked out for a corner.

    It took 20 minutes but the Wanderers finally got in front through a sterling solo goal for Milanovic. He won a midfield duel and left the Lions defence running back to their own goal. With the defence giving him a clear sight at goal he took the invitation and aimed up on his left foot, smashing it past the Lions keeper and down into the bottom corner for the first goal of the evening.

    A defensive mixup from the Wanderers allowed Andrew Pengelly a shot inside the box but the presence of Borrello put the shot off and it was cleared on the edge of the 6 yard box. Lions kept the pressure on with a number of fouls & set pieces going their way but ultimately failing to capitalise as their technical quality let them down at the key moments. The last big chance of the half was after Vidackovic came out of his goal but failed to properly clear, the ball dropped to Pengelly who saw the keeper out of the box only for his shot to be weak and a mile wide.

    Zac Sapsford took advantage of poor defending from the Lions as they got caught dead square by a simple long ball from Milanovic to Sapsford who made no mistake with a chip over the onrushing keeper to double the visitor's lead and perhaps put the game away for the Red & Black.

    The 55th minute saw a triple change from the leaders, Marcus Younis for Badolato, Marcus Antonsson for Sapsford and Dylan Scicluna for Oscar Priestman. Lions FC responded with a double change of their own. Borrello should have added a third on the hour mark, as Ramazani's run up field left a gap in behind when he lost the ball, Milanovic beat his marker to break into the box and delivered a cut-back that Borrello smashed into the wrong side of the side netting. Borrelo made way in the 75th minute with Aidan Simmons taking his place.

    The Wanderers sealed the game with a left side attack that began all the way back with the keeper Vidackovic, he found Milanovic on halfway, the attacker turned and looked forward to find Jack Clisby with the freedom of the pitch and with no pressure he delivered a perfect cross that put the Lions keeper in no man's land allowing Antonsson to flick the ball into the back of the net from point blank range and a 3-0 lead.

    Pengelly had a golden chance to pull Lions back a goal with 10 to play after another defensive mixup at the back for the Wanderers, allowing a quick attack from the Lions that looped off a block into his path but Vidackovic closed down the chance from a tight angle and Pengelly couldn't get past him. The final sub of the game was central defender Anthony Pantazopolous with a like for like switch for Alex Bonetig.

    Younis marked his good sub appearance by finishing off the game as a contest with a clean finish after breaking the Lions defensive line again. He torched the defence for pace, sat the keeper on the ground with his footwork and passed the ball home. All in all it was a good result in the pre-season, a comfortable win where Lions failed to produce enough quality to challenge the A-League team and it leaves the Wanderers waiting for the late game of the evening to see if Adelaide United or Perth Olympic await them in the Quarter Finals.



  • Posts

    • 102megan
      Red & Black Christmas Cracker

      By 102megan · Posted

      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.  
    • Zelinsky
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      By Zelinsky · Posted

      No Mack, that's not what happened. Gombau rolled the dice with his line up for that derby. CB Hamill played RB, RB Risdon played RW, the nominal RW Cejudo played LW. Something like that. Young Scott played CF, Baby Baccus played as sole No 6, young Aspro CB. Santa and Jumpei came off the bench when it was all too late, and Thwaite stayed on the bench.  The game was lost because Gombau had them play a ridiculously high line where our slow CBs where constantly outrun. Had it not been for Snake in goal we could have lost in double digits. The day after that game Gombau had morning tea with Lederer and JT for a serious WTF chat.  The player's revolt came two rounds later, after the 0:4 in Newcastle. Or rather: that's when Gimbau lost the locker room. That game was so bad and the canyon between coach and assistant coach so big that Hayden Foxe resigned after the game. Maybe there was or is a coach somewhere in Gombau. Maybe he was just misunderstood. Maybe he could have turned wsw into Australia's answer to Barca. I very much doubt it, and we'll never know. What we do know is that he pissed off Cornflakes so much that he left mid season. Gombau was urged to sign a replacement, and he refused! And so for the final game of the season he fielded Hamill and Clisby (!) as CBs, and left Thwaite on the bench. If anyone needs reminding, wsw lost the game 2:3 and where out of the finals. By the time the post season awards night happened, Gombau had pissed off club officials so much that he didn't sit with them on the same table, and the only player who was seen talking to him that night was his old mate from Adelaide, Carrusca. The next day this: "Following a review of the season the decision has been made to appoint a new head coach for the 2018/19 season and beyond. The Wanderers would like to thank Josep for his time with the club." They may as well have written "**** off". Maybe the club should have done a bit of thinking when FFA refused to release Ante Milicic but we're happy to let Gombau go to WSW, and even continued to pay a slice of his salary.   Anyway. The biggest issue are not the coaches, but how we arrive with them. In the absence of a DoS it was the chairman who made the final decision. Gorman picked Popa, Lederer Gombau, Babbel and CR, JT picked Rudan, and Stajcic is Cheng's choice.  That's what needs to change.    
    • Paul01
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      By Paul01 · Posted

      Adelaide v Wanderers Perth v Mariners Smurfs v Melb Victory Heartle$$ v Phoenix Canberra v Newcastle Western Fraudsters v Brisbane double-headers at Coopers and Allianz 
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