Adelaide United 1-3 Western Sydney Wanderers
The Western Sydney Wanderers have made it two wins on the bounce with an impressive two goal victory over Adelaide United at Coopers Stadium on Saturday night.
The Reds – fresh off a draw against Melbourne City – were looking to get back to winning ways with a win as they close in on a finals berth, but were tested by a jubilant Wanderers outfit who defeated Central Coast last weekend.
Markus Babbel’s men started out the stronger of the two sides as Roly Bonevacia’s cross was met by Oriol Riera. The Spaniard duly slammed home his first goal in 2019 to give the away side the lead.
Moments later, new Adelaide striker Jordy Thomassen was brought down in the box and after a VAR review, United were awarded a spot kick. However, Craig Goodwin was unable to tie the game, as Vedran Janjetovic dived brilliantly to his right to deny him.
Adelaide continued to put pressure on the Western Sydney defence and were rewarded when Ryan Kitto slammed home an equaliser on the brink of half-time.
The second half saw Western Sydney on the back foot early as Adelaide pushed for a second, but out of nowhere their hard work was undone. Tate Russell played through Bonevacia whose shot took a wicked deflection and found itself in the back of the net.
Thirteen minutes later, the game was beyond doubt as Abraham Majok chipped Paul Izzo to score his second Wanderers goal and seal a much-needed win for Western Sydney.
It may be a case of too little, too late for Western Sydney as they are still 12 points outside the top six with nine games to go, but are looking to continue playing spoiler for the remainder of the season.
Adelaide now sit fourth and are comfortably eight points inside the top six, but are still seven points behind second-placed Melbourne Victory in the race for the illustrious week off.
The Wanderers will welcome back former manager Tony Popovic to Sydney’s west next Sunday night at Spotless Standium as they host table-topping Perth Glory, while Adelaide travel to Newcastle in a must-win clash on Sunday evening.
Perth Glory 4-0 Brisbane Roar
Perth Glory have extended their lead on top of the table to nine points after dismantling the Brisbane Roar 4-0 at HBF Park on Saturday night.
The Glory have now gone ten games unbeaten and were immediately all over the Roar as Jason Davidson slammed home the opener inside the opening twenty minutes.
Andy Keogh was on hand to flick the ball to the back-post where the former Socceroo full-back struck it brilliantly to beat Brendan White and give the Glory the lead.
Their lead was soon after doubled as substitute Scott Neville whipped in a cross to the waiting Keogh who dispatched his 11th of the campaign, leaving Glory two goals to the good inside the opening 40 minutes.
It would only get worse for the struggling Roar outfit, as Keogh got on the end of some brilliant trickery from Diego Castro on the brink of half-time to make it 3-0 and put the game to bed.
Perth were not letting up as the second half kicked off, with Castro tapping home their fourth after a lovely cross from Davidson.
Perth continued their relentless pressure as the game wore on, but were unable to add to their four-goal lead, Chris Ikonomidis trying his luck from range but failing to beat White in the Brisbane goal.
The home side recorded their largest-ever win against Brisbane and continue their surge towards a first-ever Premiers’ Plate.
Perth travel to Western Sydney next Sunday evening as they look to make it eleven games without a loss, while Brisbane will look for win number three from a rather hapless season, facing fellow strugglers Central Coast in Gosford on Friday night.
