Wanderers have the heart to defeat City

The storm that seemed to have clouded Western Sydney passed on Wednesday evening after the team managed to win their first game at home this season against Melbourne City 3-2, after torrential rain and lightning delayed kick-off by an hour.

The Wanderers busy travelling schedule subsequently created a line-up which saw a mixture of both new and old faces. Keeper Dean Bouzanis made his debut at home and it was the first time someone other than Ante Covic was the keeper at Pirtek Stadium.

New face and debutant Jonathon Asproptamitis worked his way up from the youth team into the first team and unluckily received a yellow card after only 13 minutes. This put City in a dangerous position shooting a free kick directly into the cross bar bouncing  back into the field of play.

Poor defending once again seemed to be the Wanderers downfall. Yojiro Takahagi managed to clear the ball off the line only for it to land to Safuwan Baharudin who headed the ball above Dean Bouzanis’ arms and into the goal.

For a moment, it seemed as though history was repeating itself once again for the Wanderers and former player Aaron Mooy was running rings around the players. Despite this, Mateo Poljak made his declaration to change the final outcome of the match scoring the first equaliser late into the first half.

Very early in the second, the Wanderers were all caught ball watching during a free kick by Aaron Mooy. It was a relentless curved shot into the goal and due to the minimal intervention to stop it, Mooy helped his new side take the lead.

Somehow the Wanderers had to spirit and character to slowly but surely fight back. Tomi Juric drew a foul in the penalty box and was consequently awarded a penalty.

Juric managed to shoot the ball directly into the bottom right corner past City’s keeper Tando Velaphi and with under ten minutes to go the score was evened oncemore.

City’s Connor Chapman was given a red card and City’s defence was crumbling under the increasing pressure by the Wanderers.

The Wanderers had multiple opportunities to secure their win and in the 91st minute Nikita Rukavysya managed to seal the deal for the Western Sydney side to win their first home match of the season.

Despite the Wanderers winning their first match at Pirtek Stadium this season, the match still lacked the excitement and spark that the team was previously known for.

With their next game coming up on Friday evening against other Melbournian side Melbourne Victory, it will not only be interesting to see what the line-up will be, but also if they will be able to keep up the victories for the remainder of the season.



Western Sydney Wanderers: Nikolai TOPOR-STANLEY, Yusuke TANAKA, Antony GOLEC, Labinot HALITI, Mateo POLJAK, (45" Jason TRIFIRO) (96" Samuel GALLAWAY),  Yojiro TAKAHAGI, Nikita RUKAVYTSYA, Jonathon ASPRPOTAMITIS, Nick KALMAR (74" Jaushua SOTIRIO) and Dean BOUZANIS

Unused substitutes: Ante COVIC and Steve KUZMANOVSKI


Melbourne City: Patrick KISNORBO, Connor CHAPMAN, Erik PAARTALU, Aaron MOOY, Massimo MURDOCCA, Robert KOREN (85" Jack CLISBY), Mate DUGANDZIC (59" David WILLIAMS) , Kew JALIENS, Safuwan BAHARUDIN, Harry NOVILLO (66" James BROWN) and Tando VELAPHI (GK)

Unused substitutes: Andrew Redmayne and Jonatan GERMANO