An Adrian Mierzejewski masterclass has helped Sydney FC earn the derby day bragging rights defeating Western Sydney Wanderers 3-1 on a wet night at ‘Fortress Allianz’.
Summary
Sydney FC 3 (Mierzejewski 44’, 55’, Bobô 74’ ) def. Western Sydney Wanderers FC 1 (Riera 10’)
An Adrian Mierzejewski masterclass has helped Sydney FC earn the derby day bragging rights defeating Western Sydney Wanderers 3-1 on a wet night at ‘Fortress Allianz’.
The visitors took the lead early in the first half courtesy of a Riera tap in, before Mierzejewski levelled it up just before half time with another world class free-kick.
The same man put the Sky Blues in front ten minutes after the break, making him the leading all-time goal scorer with four in the A-League’s biggest fixture.
Bobô put the result beyond doubt with 15 to play after a brilliant assist by Ninkovic.
Graham Arnold’s men maintain their 11-point advantage at the top of the table heading into next weekends clash against second placed Newcastle away and could wrap up the Premiers Plate the week after that.
What They Said
Graham Arnold:
“Everyone thinks they (WSW) will be competitive but at the end of the day, the stats don’t lie it’s a pretty lopsided derby, the most lopsided out of all the derbies. In 14 games, we’ve lost one.
“We’re going for history. First goal is always to get to 50 points to guarantee top two. There are still six games to go and they’ll be no foot off the pedal – we’re going for the points tally record again.
“We do a lot research around our foreigners and we’ve got four fantastic ones here. The recruitment is the key element to the success.
“You go down one nil and there’s no panic. It’s like the players think we’ve been here before and we know we’ll get three or four.
“We’re better than them. It’s simple.”
Goals
10’ RIERA GOAL – Llorente’s low cross is palmed away by Redmayne but only as far as Riera who taps the ball in from close range.
44’ MIERZEJEWSKI WITH A WORLDIE – Ninkovic is brought down 23 yards out after attempting to play a give and go with Simon. Adrian steps up and does what he does best, rocketing the ball off the bar and into the net to leave Janjetovic grasping thin air.
55’ MIERZEJEWSKI AT THE DOUBLE – Ninkovic whips a cross in that is only half dealt with by the Wanderers defence and falls to Simon who lays it off for the Polish midfielder to smash his volley first time into the net.
74’ BOBÔ SEALS IT – Ninkovic goes on another mazy run to then deftly back heel the ball to the golden boot leader who makes no mistake, slotting the ball into the right hand corner past Janjetovic.
Key Moments
8’ FIRST CHANCE FALLS TO MIERZEJEWSKI – Carney whips in a ball to find Ninkovic unmarked in the box and unselfishly lays it off for Adrian. His shot is only just tipped around the post by Janjetovic.
25’ CHANCE IKONOMIDIS – Llorent crosses to ball to the far post to find the Wanderers winger who puts his header wide of the goal.
36’ INCHES AWAY SIMON – Brilliant build up play from the Sky Blues leads to Carney’s driven ball almost being poked in by Simon at the front post but Hamill manages to narrowly get ahead of the forward.
57’ SO CLOSE BOBÔ – Mierzejewski nearly turns provider, slipping the ball through to the Sydney FC forward only for him to miss narrowly from an acute angle.
66’ MIERZEJEWSKI GOES CLOSE – Adrian almost nets the first Sydney derby hat-trick as he unleashes a thunderous effort towards goal only for Janjetovic to make a strong stop to his left.
89’ POINT BLANK STOP REDMAYNE – Wanderers manage to get on the attack through Sotirio but Redmayne makes the save.
Team News
Sydney FC 3 (Mierzejewski 44’, 55’, Bobô 74’ ) def. Western Sydney Wanderers FC 1 (Riera 10’)
Head Coach Graham Arnold made four changes to the side which started in the AFC Champions League in Shanghai three days four days earlier. Jordy Buijs returned to the heart of the defence with Aaron Calver moving to the bench. Matt Simon was added to the line to give skipper Alex Brosque some extra recovery time on the bench while Paulo Retre and David Carney filled the full back roles with Wilkshire and Zullo suspended and injured (hamstring) respectively.
Ground: Allianz Stadium
Attendance: 25,211
Referee: Peter Green
Sydney FC: 1. Andrew REDMAYNE (gk), 4. Alex WILKINSON, 5. Jordy BUIJS, 6. Joshua BRILLANTE, 8. Paulo RETRE, 9. BOBÔ, 10. Milos NINKOVIC (12. Fabio FERREIRA 90’), 11. Adrian MIERZEJEWSKI, 13. Brandon O’NEILL, 17. David CARNEY, 18. Matt SIMON (14. Alex BROSQUE 71’)
Subs Not Used: 20. Alex CISAK (gk), 2. Aaron CALVER, 3. Ben WARLAND.
Yellow Cards: 11. Adrian MIERZEJEWSKI 32’
Red Cards: None.
Western Sydney Wanderers FC: 20. Vedran JANJETOVIC (gk), 5. Brendan HAMILL, 6. Marcelo CARRUSCA (16. Joshua SOTIRIO 77’), 7. Steven LUSTICA (11. Brendon SANTALAB 62’), 8. Rolieny BONEVACIA, 9. Oriol REIRA, 18. Chris IKONOMIDIS, 19. Mark BRIDGE (10. Alvaro CEJUDO 62’), 24. Raul LLORENTE, 33. Michael THWAITE, 42. Keanu BACCUS.
Subs Not Used: 40. Nicholas SUMAN (gk), 3. Jack CLISBY.
Yellow Cards: 8. Rolieny BONEVACIA 63’
Red Cards: None.
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