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The visitors from south were once again defeated in
Sydney by a one-goal margin in the space of seven days. Lightning may not
strike twice but for Kevin Muscat’s men the Sydney curse did certainly return.
On the other side of the fence the Wanderers remain
unbeaten and their Cinderella-like story continues unabated. It must be a
source of immense pride for Tony Popovic to see his side maintain such
discipline and composure even when under fire because the Victory were definitely
the better side in the first half at least.
The early chances of the game were to Melbourne
Victory but neither Mitch Nichols nor James Troisi could steer their early
shots on goal. One was wide and the other was over.
Jerome Polenz of the Wanderers didn’t let anyone down
when at the 10 minute mark he received a yellow card from referee Kris Griffith
Jones.
Sadly for Polenz, the Wanderers and coach Popovic, his
accumulation of the yellow cards must be of concern. Griffith Jones, an
experienced referee and one of the very best in the A-League, was having none
of his cavalier tackling style which surely needs some curbing.
Shortly afterwards Melbourne Victory really should
have taken the lead when Archie Thompson from close range found the side
netting after receiving a header from Mitch Nichols.
This dangerous chance will definitely make the blooper
reel at the end of the season even though Thompson will almost certainly blame
the wet surface for his calamitous missed chance.
The rain influenced a large proportion of the first
half – and indeed the entire game - with neither side really having control of
the situation on such a wet night.
Late in the first half there was a series of three close
chances in arguably the best few minutes of play.
A Shannon Cole cross almost reached Brendan Santalab,
but almost is not good enough because the ball rolled across the face of goal
just waiting for someone to latch onto it.
Up the other end play went and once again the villain
of the narrative was Thompson who missed the intended target when probably such
a classy striker should have done better with his final shot.
The third chance in the series then fell to the
Wanderers when Mark Bridge from just outside the box forced Nathan Coe to
nicely turn the ball over the crossbar for a corner.
The first half nevertheless ended scoreless but to use
boxing vernacular the Melbourne Victory won the half on points. Luckily for
Western Sydney football scoring makes no such allowance for boxing-type
counting of points.
The second half got underway with the rain continuing
to drench Parramatta Stadium. It was the 54th minute when Santalab
took too much time in the box on the ball and Coe was able to smother out any
attempt.
The Wanderers went close shortly afterwards when a
Cole free kick just sailed over but the real surprise was that Cole actually took
the free kick in the first place when Shinji Ono was hovering.
Ono became another player to waste too much precious
time in the box and dithered instead of shooting first time. The ball tamely
went away for a goal kick and the marquee Japanese import kicked the ball away
into the tenth row of the crowd in frustration. Griffith Jones duly, and
correctly, issued him with a yellow card.
The break through arrived in the 82nd
minute when Labinot Haliti, not long on the field himself, went charging down
the side and fired in a lovely ball from which Mark Bridge didn’t miss when
standing so close to goal.
It was an easy goal in the end which sent a dagger
through the hearts of the Victory supporters who probably numbered about 500 on
the night.