Western Sydney have extended their lead at the top of the A-League table to five points amid a congested top five, outlasting a late comeback from Melbourne City to edge them 4-3 in a contender for game of the season.
Mark Bridge and Mitch Nichols were the stars at Pirtek Stadium on Friday night, combining for three of the Wanderers’ four goals and strangling City who, despite scoring two second-half goals within a minute, could not tame the leaders.
This top-of-the-table clash was a display of impressive football from two fluent, attacking outfits in the title hunt.
The visitors were looking to expand on their league-high 40 goals and climb past the Wanderers to the summit.
As expected, the chances came thick and fast at both ends.
Joshua Sotirio brought pace and was involved in multiple chances, while Dario Vidosic was unfortunate to have a goal disallowed for offside.
A-League top-scorer Bruno Fornaroli could have opened City’s account when he floated a ball to Harry Novillo and ran inside for a second receive, only to skew his effort wide.
It was only a matter of time before a goal would eventuate.
In the 32nd minute, Bridge slipped a superb pass into the box for an advancing Nichols.
Nichols shrugged off City defenders and took a touch, before swivelling onto his left foot to slide the ball past goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen and into the far corner.
That moment brought a swift change in the match, with the home side suddenly on the front foot, thwarting City in their own half.
Bridge and Nichols nearly doubled the lead minutes later, before newly signed defender Osama Malik danced dangerously close to netting an own-goal.
Wanderers gloveman Andrew Redmayne was lucky right on halftime to stop an equaliser, fumbling Erik Paartalu’s on-target header from Aaron Mooy’s corner.
After the break, it didn’t take long before Nichols and Bridge were at it again.
Bridge ran downfield and passed to Nichols, who dribbled into the area and flicked back to his teammate to fire past a kneeling Sorensen.
Bridge’s second goal – his eighth of the season – came six minutes later, a tap in off Nichols’ lovely lob over a sorry Sorensen who had mistakenly run off his line to meet him.
City visibly toiled and needed fresh legs.
When the game seemingly belonged to Tony Popovic’s side, Novillo made a great solo strike, beating Topor-Stanley and driving past Redmayne.
Within a minute, the visitors were quickly back in the game as Fornaroli lunged into the box and sent his 14th goal of the season into the top-right corner.
No sooner did John van `t Schip’s side rekindle hope, Anthony Caceres was shown his second yellow card and City went down to 10 men with five minutes of regular time remaining.
Western Sydney capitalised.
Bridge passed through for Castelen to cross inside for fellow substitute Brendon Santalab to drive home.
And in injury-time, Mooy drove a set piece into the box, Paartalu stuck his boot out and gave the small contingent of away fans a consolation.
FIUL
Guest
"I also remember you calling WSW a bottom 2 side this season." Well you remember incorrectly. I said that last season - guess where WSW finished? This season I said would be extremely even with all 10 teams pushing for a Top 6 spot with 5 matches to spare. I'll admit I've been disappointed with CCM, Jets & Wellington this season but I still won't be writing them off.
josh
Guest
Great post SVB, in Western Sydney the attempts by the Giants / Midgets to gain a foothold is laughable. Now they've resorted to some weird 9's competition to try and get people playing the sport. They're putting banners up all over Western Sydney advertising this competition but they don't seem to last too long. Western Sydney cannot be bought.
josh
Guest
I love your analysis Fuss, I also remember you calling WSW a bottom 2 side this season.
SVB
Guest
Mister Football I wouldn't worry about the ratings. Your chosen sport is still a non event in Australia's largest city. One team that is the joke of the sporting landscape in this country and another that has its niche in a part of Sydney where Victorian ex pats have settled, and still refers to itself as 'South Melbourne'. Problem for you is that ratings don't really tell you the true picture of what is happening on the ground in Australia's largest city, and the picture does not look good for AFL in the next 5 to 10 years.
marron
Roar Guru
Do you have an oztam box mf? Without one, you are not contributing to the ratings I'm afraid.
jamesb
Guest
Great game. Really enjoyed it. Possible GF between the two sides.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
I'm actually one of the ones contributing to the A-League ratings. I'm doing my bit - but it looks like it may not be enough.
Qantas & SBS support Australian Football
Guest
Yes JB, perhaps, I'm not sure of what he is doing at Man U you are most probably right. In the last world cup against the Socceroos he started out with a back three then change the formation when he saw we were no easy-beats. It must be a very difficult system to get right..?
football
Guest
Lol, mf 7mate's ratings are consistently higher than SBS 2's are, irrespective of the content on either channel (bar virtually anything). So yes a gridiron game could rate comparable on 7mate than on SBS2 (i'm surprised it didn't out rate the A-league). football could out rate Aussie Rules if the former and later were on 7 and SBS2 respectively. There is a sizable American diaspora in Australia so i can understand why those 2 games rated as they did on ESPN. They would decide who plays in the Super Bowl! And i don't need to explain how prominent the Gridiron showpiece is to Americans. Still, thank you for watching.
Midfielder
Guest
Fuss I am sure you sometimes hold back because you have information but can't outright say it as it's still kinda on hold... But we both know that the NRL and AFL and ARU and ACB are far more worried about Football than any other code.. which in many ways makes me laugh because we don't worry about them... TBH I don't know why they worry they are in very strong positions ...
Bob
Guest
MF - those stats pretty much show up the flaws in the rating system. If you believe those numbers accurately reflect viewership then you're a fool. not to say the HAL can't improve but it won't go that until it stops bring buried on SBS full stop.
Bob
Guest
I'd rather play City than SFC, Wanderers or Victory personally. City still have a soft underbelly that the top sides in the Competition keep exploiting.
Bob
Guest
Me too. Nothing out of the ordinary tbh
Bob
Guest
0-4 would have been fair; City's defence was below average last night but also their midfield was over-run for large parts of the game. Mooy in particular shows his Achilles Heel whenever he's out under pressure. Mooy doesnt play well in a combative, pressurised midfield.
Kaks
Roar Guru
You might want to go back to the AFL tab and continue to defend a team who has just been busted as the biggest drug cheats in Australian sport
Kaks
Roar Guru
Not sure if its just me, but receiving comments like this from Fuss puts a massive smile on my face. You just know that you've striked a nerve! :)
Kaks
Roar Guru
Times have changed JB, coach's like ball playing sweepers/defenders so that they can play out from the back.
FIUL
Guest
The fact that so many AFL fans come to discuss Aleague every day - whilst completely ignoring NFL - is clear indication as to how the TV ratings may not accurately reflect how modern sports fans access sport. I know on social media, the Aust football community was glued to their screens - mostly not TV screens. ALeague is growing at a rate beyond my wildest dreams. When the haters are out there every day sniping Aleague I know we're on the right track.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
What a great advertisement this game was for the A-League, living up to its 1 vs 2 billing. Unfortunately, not too many were watching. Last night's ratings: Wsw vs city 50k sbs2, 57k foxsports. This for 1 vs 2, involving one of the very biggest and most popular clubs in Australia (a juggernaut no less). If that weren't enough, get a load of some of the most recent ratings for the NFL (that's the American game): 7mate : Patriots v Broncos 55k ESPN Patriots v Broncos 42k Cardinals v Panthers 49k So an NFL game shown on Monday morning gets a higher rating than the aleague on a Friday night. This is as strong an indication as anything as to where the A-League currently sits in the Australian TV hierarchy.
j binnie
Guest
Kaks - Ball playing sweepers are not normally used in a "back three" system,,sweepers were used behind a back three,with the ball playing "back up" encouraged to slip into the attack if and when feasible. The great Beckenbaur was the classic example. Cheers jb.