It was a new night but same old struggles for Western Sydney, whose A-League finals ambitions are no healthier after they were held to a goalless draw by lowly Adelaide.
A highly contentious disallowed goal denied the Wanderers a win they so sorely craved after Tuesday night’s 5-1 Asian Champions League disembowelling by Shanghai SIPG, and leaves their top-six spot at risk of being snatched away by Newcastle.
Despite dominating all key statistics, the Wanderers were resigned to yet another frustrating night at the fruitless Spotless Stadium on Saturday and now have just one goal from their last five A-League outings.
And though the Reds sprung a second-half fightback, last season’s champions appear destined for the wooden spoon.
As has become customary for Tony Popovic’s side, there were a host of missed chances.
But equally familiar was that another game-changing decision went against them.
With the end of the first half approaching, inexperienced Reds goalkeeper Daniel Margush spilled Jack Clisby’s cross several times and never clearly took control of the ball.
Finally, Dimas ended a lengthy goal-mouth scramble and found the back of the net, only for referee Kris Griffiths-Jones to rule there’d been a foul.
The incident left Tony Popovic fuming, to the point that Griffiths-Jones ran over to deliver a warning to the Wanderers boss.
That sentiment continued after the break when Adelaide started to show signs of life.
They still came under pressure as Terry Antonis whipped in a long-range effort that was tipped over by a quick-thinking Margush, before the 19-year-old stepped up again to deny Lachlan Scott’s sharp header.
It was a dispiriting shift for Scott, whose other opportunities were not handled so accurately as he led the line in the absence of injured veteran Brendon Santalab.
From there the game changed shape and Adelaide suddenly looked the fresher despite running on a day’s less recovery after their own midweek 2-1 ACL loss to Jiangsu Suning.
Tarek Elrich fired a warning as he found the untracked Sergio Cirio in space, Vedran Janjetovic’s blushes only saved by Scott Neville’s last-ditch clearance.
But even as Cirio continued to wobble their hosts’ nerves, Kearyn Baccus answered with a close shot and Antonis struck the crossbar but the deadlock remained.
vin
Guest
careful Fadida, don't blame the rain for the poor crowds, supporters should be there for their club through thick and thin, rain hail or shine. The fairweather supporters were probably still recovering from the bulldogs loss to melbourne the night before.
Paul
Guest
The A League as wanderers are doing okay despite spotless: This season = 12,684 Last season = 12,309 So Cahill and Yoshi are worth 375 more fans and falling? The two ANZ derbies put an additional 444 on the average if you average out everything above 20k or Pirteks stadium cap. Seems to me crowds are falling.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
Paul, are you talking about the A-League through the prism of the Wanderer's or holistically?
Paul
Guest
Crowds bring in revenue, the FFA says the game is poor, that is why it's important. And I can watch a game AND comment on other matters. Both are important. The FFA are failing to market the game and grow crowds. What are they going to do about it? Nothing?
Fadida
Guest
What's that sound? Is that the sky falling? Honestly, what sort of football fan ignore onfield action and dwells only on crowds and negatives. I could imagine you turning off the Glory Nux game because there weren't enough people at the game....
Paul
Guest
We start by saying there is a problem then look for solutions. There is no problem according to fadida so no solution is necessary. But in 5 weeks time we will see crowds that are the same as last year when there was a boycott and this year we have ANZ derbies boosting attendances but still they are flat. But there is no problem. Fadida sticks his head in the sand next to the FFA and also says "no problem"
Paul
Guest
Its been raining for a week? Has it been raining all season then? What do we "blame" the FFA for? Or at least hold them accountable: Yoshi and the marketing campaign from hell. Is that the FFA fault? The Cahill rule and a marquee that hasn't increased crowds. Is that the FFA fault? Crowds flat is that the FFA fault? What are the FFA responsible for then as they control the competition almost entirely?
j binnie
Guest
Fadida - Ignore Paul,not at your risk, for he is very good at citing poor averages and the reasons why but never attempts to analyse why some of the crowds are so low. Here are some examples Wellington, a few years ago, moved a home game to another city and the novelty of the move pulled a very good crowd. This year they expanded that idea with no apparent improvement after their first game when they drew 10,000. CCM 's management also tried that move this year (we are told they received some remuneration towards their costs) but the idea was again foreign to what they should be trying to achieve, attract more people to their games in Gosford. What Paul will not tell you is that at this point in time 3 of the clubs in the HAL have increased their "average crowds" this season,and Roar ,Perth, and Adelaide are not involved in "derby" games. No doubt Paul likes to enumerate flaws he thinks should be improved upon but his suggestions on how that improvement can be achieved are pretty thin on the ground. Cheers jb.
Fadida
Guest
An FFA conspiracy? Ask Paul
Fadida
Guest
The crisis is the abysmal recruiting by WSW. A betting man would have picked this as 0-0. And it has rained for a week. Come on FFA, fix the weather. I also blame FFA for WSW narrow play and thin forward line
Cool and Cold
Guest
Why that goal was not awarded?
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Popovic and WSW have a 'crisis' that's for sure.
Paul
Guest
A sub-9,000 crowd and the competition average attendances are boosted by our two derby matches at ANZ (we'll only have one next year which won't help) and yet the season average will likely be the same or very close as last year which had a fan BOYCOTT in it. Anyone who thinks the A League is not entering a crisis period is deluded - the FFA are alienating fans and they're starting to stay away. We have a problem Houston.