Jets beat Wanderers in battle of the bottom

In the battle for the bottom, the youthful Wanderers side that ran onto the field late Saturday Afternoon were unable to defeat the Newcastle, leaving the away team sneak away with a 2-1 win.

Due to their gruelling schedule the Wanderers opted to use a mix of youth players and experienced players against the Jets, whilst familiar face Daniel Mullen was the captain of the opposition.

The Wanderers started with a burst of energy as youngster Jaushua Sotirio had two one-on-one opportunities that could have pushed the home team into the lead very early on.

This was matched by Newcastle’s Edson Montano who similarly had a number of chances, one which specifically saw him trying to shoot into the box from the side where multiple Wanderers were blocking his path of attack.

Sotirio and Steve Kuzmanovski seemed to be the spark that this Wanderers side needed, both heading off on great runs which were just lacking the ability to stay calm and finish the job.

Yet the Jets’ first goal came from a mistake of a Wanderers veteran. Ante Covic charged out of the box and completely misread the play, which left the box empty. Enver Alidovic used this to his advantage shooting the ball directly into the goal as Ante Covic was left sprinting back into the position where he should have been.

This seemed to give the Jets the confidence that they needed to secure the remainder of the match, whilst the Wanderers were left rattled and vulnerable and things began to slowly snowball from there.

A mistake by Daniel Alessi in the 32nd minute left Edson Montano unmarked and armed to score. He was ruled offside just as the ball flew into the net, but in reality he was far from offside and the controversial call did not allow the Jets to double their score.

Alessi’s confidence was clearly knocked and the Wanderers required a bit more experience on the field, bringing on Antony Golec minutes before the first half ended.

The Jets eventually doubled their lead at the end of the first half after a spectacular play by Andrew Hoole to Korean Kije Lee left Ante Covic looking up at the ball flying over him into the goal, the Jets by the end of the first half were up 2-0.

The second half saw the Wanderers gradually bring on more experienced players to ease the pressure on the youth with Yojiro Takahagi and Nikita Rukavystya coming on for Alusine Fofanah and Yianni Perkatis.

Early on in the second, Nick Kalmar who seemed to be invisible up until this point in the match managed to win a free kick. Kalmar decided to take it, curving the ball in and scoring the Wanderers only goal in this match against the Jets.

Kalmar, Rukavystya and Kuzmanovski in quick succession all had chances but none of them had the ability or quality to actually get the job done.

A cross from the corner from Kiji saw Mullen in the final moments from a header come very close to increasing the lead against his old side.

Despite this, there wasn’t nearly as much action in the second half as there was in the first. The Wanderers were left looking deflated whilst the Jets were steadily holding onto the lead, turning what was once an exciting game into a dire and painfully slow one.

The Wanderers will next have a two game week, taking on the Roar on Wednesday and Glory on Saturday both away from home which will see them fighting again to try and jump off the bottom of the ladder.



Western Sydney Wanderers: Ante Covic (C), Yianni Perkatis (45" Yojiro Takahagi), Jaushua Sotirio, Romeo Castelen, Iacopo La Rocca, Jason Trifiro, Samuel Gallaway, Alusine Fofanah (69" Nikita Rukavytsya) , Daniel Alessi (43" Antony Golec), Nicholas Kalmar, Jonathon Aspropotamitis and Steve Kuzmanovski

Unusued substitutes: Labinot Haliti, Dean Bouzanis

Newcastle Jets: Daniel Mullen (C), Taylor Regan, Benjamin Kantarovski, Enver Alivodic (77" Sam Gallagher), Andrew Hoole, Edson Montano, Jacob Pepper (93" Allan Welsh), Mitch Cooper (70" Radovan Pavicevic), Kije Lee, Nicholas Cowburn and Ben Kennedy
Unused substitutes: Michael Kantarovski, John Solari