Wanderers, Roar draw despite plethora of chances

Western Sydney Wanderers probably should have won the 1-1 top-of-the-table draw at Pirtek Stadium in Parramatta against the Brisbane Roar given that they had the better of the chances, but football is about converting chances and not just creating them.

Brisbane Roar went into the break at halftime in the lead but, on balance, it was the Wanderers who were the better team in the first stanza of play.

If there was perhaps some doubt about who prevailed in the first half, there can be no doubt about the second.

It was the Wanderers in complete control until about the last few minutes of the game where the Roar had a few free-kicks that may have led to them snatching an undeserved victory.

Aaron Mooy in particular had a fantastic second half which included two magnificent crosses, one of which led to the equalising goal by substitute Labinot Haliti in the 84th minute.

Mooy was indeed making up for his earlier error in the first half where he conceded far too much space to Besart Berisha in the box and the Albanian clinically took his chance to score for the visitors in the 13th minute.

Berisha opened the scoring for the visitors but the earlier chances fell to the Wanderers.

The home side should have scored in the 3rd minute when a lovely cross by Youssuff Hersi crossed the entire face of goal and only just missed a sliding Mark Bridge for the much needed tap in.

Hersi was at it again in the 35th minute but this time his wonderful shot found an equally well prepared Michael Theo between the sticks for the Roar who turned it away for a corner.

A forceful free kick from Dimi Petratos a few minutes later went sailing dangerously over the crossbar before the last two chances of the first chance fell to the Wanderers but headers from Matthew Spiranovic and Brendon Santalab were unsuccessful.

Shortly after the interval Santalab should have scored from close range after receiving a delightful ball from Hersi but his shot hit the post and then bounced off Theo for a corner.

The Wanderers dominated possession and definitely dominated the A-League leaders on the night but some concern may be expressed given that some of their bigger name players were not up to their usual standard. Shinji Ono and Mark Bridge in particular could be mentioned here.

The Roar were not particularly fluid in their usual possession game and afterwards their coach Mike Mulvey certainly praised his adversaries for such a robust performance.

The Roar were forced into playing more long balls than usual because of the excellent pressing from the Wanderers defence.

A rare moment for the Roar arrived in the 68th minute when Luke Brattan chipped over the top to find Henrique but he scoffed his chance under pressure from Jerome Polenz.

After the game the Wanderers coach Tony Popovic said that his side deserved all three points and he was clearly very proud of his team.

“We were proactive throughout the whole night and it was an outstanding performance,” he said.

“In my opinion we have had three very good consecutive performances.”

The Roar will travel home to Brisbane to play the Newcastle Jets while the Wanderers face the longest trip in football to face the Glory in Perth.



Western Sydney Wanderers: Covic, D’Apuzzo, Polenz (78’ Cole), Spiranovic, Topor-Stanley, Hersi, Mooy, Ono, Poljak, Bridge (74’ Haliti), Santalab (74’ Juric).


Brisbane Roar: Theo, Donachie, North, Smith, Stefanutto, Franjic, Brattan, Broich, Miller (68’ Henrique), Berisha, Petratos (90’ Lustica).