Western Sydney Wanderers have defeated Melbourne Victory 2-1 at CommBank Stadium on Saturday night.
The loss leaves Victory in 12th place, trailing sixth-place Sydney FC by four points, with the Sky Blues taking on Perth Glory tomorrow afternoon at Allianz Stadium. Brisbane Roar, Perth Glory and Newcastle Jets are also nipping at Sydney’s heels.
Roderick Miranda was sent from the field in the 59th minute after a VAR check led to the initial decision of a yellow card being upgraded.
Desperate for the three points, the visitors made more of the early running in their hi-vis attire.
Central Coast had earned a 1-1 draw with Melbourne City earlier in the day, putting themselves three points clear of Marko Rudan’s men.
Each side saw a goalmouth scramble come to nothing in the early minutes, with Paul Izzo the busier of the goalkeepers but managing to keep his side level.
Tony Popovic cut the figure of a man under pressure, barking instructions to his charges from closer to the sideline than the technical area.
Izzo was forced into another great save, this time denying Milos Ninkovic after the Serbian was deftly played in by Brandon Borrello.
Calem Nieuwenhof, in an advanced position, was urged by the modest but loud home gallery to pull the trigger and the impressive youngster obliged, but Izzo once more was equal to the challenge.
Wanderers continued to make inroads through midfield but often lacked the clinical final ball or a quality finish, despite Niewenhof and Ninkovic pulling the strings.
Lawrence Thomas, rarely troubled in the Wanderers goal, was called into action from a set-piece but managed to divert the delivery away from danger.
Just when it appeared the match was destined for a scoreless first half, who else but Borrello popped up with a composed finish to open the scoring for the home side.
With any hopes of a shock top-six finish fading fast, Popovic didn’t immediately go to his bench to start the second half, despite having the likes of Bruce Kamau and Ben Folami at his disposal.
Ninkovic went into Chris Beath’s notebook for a bad foul, and Victory almost found an equaliser from the resulting set-piece, but Fernando Romero couldn’t control his close-range header.
The visitors kept pushing and not long later did manage to get back on level terms, Nishan Velupillay hammering home to breathe new life into Victory’s season.
Victory’s fortunes soon took a turn for the worse. After initially dispensing a yellow card for bad foul, upon a VAR review Beath upgraded his decision and Roderick Miranda was sent from the field, leaving Popovic’s side down a man for the final 30 minutes of the contest.
Goalscorer Velupillay was withdrawn by Popovic in favour of the enigmatic Folami as 10-man Victory pushed for a winning goal.
Stretched defensively, Victory were giving up chances and eventually the pressure told, with Amor Layouni running onto a Borrello through ball to restore Western Sydney’s advantage.
In injury time a golden chance fell to Bruno Fornaroli after linking up with Folami, but the Socceroo could only blaze over.
It would finish in a 2-1 Wanderers triumph, with Victory’s hopes of finals football surely extinguished.
Key Takeaways
How far can Borrello take Wanderers?
Recently rewarded with a national team call-up – and deservedly so – Borrello netted his 11th goal and laid on his fourth assist this evening, in a sensational return to form after spending a few unproductive years over in Germany.
It’s not to the point where WSW are a one-man team – they’ve got quality sprinkled throughout their side and multiple contributors. But if Borrello can keep up this form for the next couple of weeks and into the finals, it may become a case of how far he can drag his side.
Victory’s season all but over
It’s been a campaign to forget for the four-time champions, and any faint hope that may have still been flickering before tonight’s loss has surely now burnt out.
Losing marquee man Luis Nani early in the season did not help, however Victory had the manpower to compensate. What’s instead eventuated is a disaster – it will be a long off-season of soul-searching. Which leads to…
Is Popovic the man to turn it around in Melbourne?
As is always the case in a down season, speculation of changes afoot at Victory is rife. Despite his comments earlier this week that he “wants to coach overseas,” the odds of Ufuk Talay returning to Australia in 2023-24 seem to be shortening by the day.
With a squad at his disposal that was destined for greater things after a second-place finish last season, there’s no doubt Popovic has underachieved – and quite considerably so. The question becomes: will he be allowed to coach out his three-year deal at the club, or will this miserable campaign spell the end of the former Socceroos centre-half’s tenure in Melbourne?
FINAL SCORE
A-League Men Round 24
Western Sydney Wanderers 2 (Borrello 45+1′, Layouni 81′)
Melbourne Victory 1 (Vellupilay 56′)
Image Credit: Matt King/Getty Images
