On a beautiful day for football, Sydney FC and Western Sydney Wanderers played out an entertaining 1-1 draw at Stadium Australia.
There was a short round of applause before the game in memory of former Australia coach Frank Arok, who recently passed away in Serbia.
As referee Alex King started the game, it was Steve Corica’s men who put the right foot forward by looking very threatening in the attacking third. Kosta Barbarouses and Milos Ninkovic combined well in the third minute as the Kiwi was gifted an excellent pass from his teammate, but goalkeeper Daniel Margush was equal to the task and produced a good save.
Not too long after that effort, the Sky Blues were at it again as Trent Buhagiar sent one that was heading towards goal, but the shot-stopper was equal to it and made another save to keep the hosts at bay.
The Wanderers began the game slowly and took time to get their eye on the ball as the Sky Blues dominated possession and continued to show good creativity. Corica’s men pressed well when they were without the ball as they stifled their opponents.
Meanwhile, Buhagiar had the best chance of the first period after some excellent link up play with Paulo Retre saw him thump the ball towards the near post. The shot had the ‘keeper beaten, but the woodwork came to the rescue on that occasion.
Over at the other end, wing-back Tate Russell made a little space for himself and let loose a shot that caught out Andrew Redmayne. But the shot-stopper did well to recover and make a save that kept the game on par.
Just a little past the hour mark, Sydney FC drew first blood. Ninkovic and Retre combined well as the Serbian made his way into the box. The former Dynamo Kyiv midfielder’s run ended up with a collision with James Troisi, who was standing his ground. As the Serbian went down and needed a little attention, the man in charge pointed to the spot. Barbarouses stepped up and took the spot kick with poise and composure, sending Margush the wrong way to place it in the bottom-right corner and make it 1-0 for the hosts.
Sixty seven minutes into the game, the Wanderers managed to get back on level terms due to a goalkeeping howler from Redmayne. The 31-year-old ‘keeper came off his line to intercept a long ball from Graham Dorrans that was directed at Russell. But instead of holding onto the ball, an uncharacteristic spillage from the shot-stopper found its way into the path of Troisi who made no mistake thumping the ball home.
The home side responded by turning to a more physical game, but the Parramatta club’s boss Carl Robinson responded well by bringing on Bernie Ibini in place of Nicolai Muller. Minutes later, Kwame Yeboah was brought on for Simon Cox as two pairs of physically dominant fresh legs gave the Wanderers good attacking momentum going forward.
With a little over 10 minutes to go, Ibini had a good chance as he was almost through on goal. While his shot had Redmayne diving at full stretch, it went wide of the post. Shortly thereafter, Russell sent in a good cross that was met with a strong header from Thomas Aquilina. But the effort from the young full-back went wide.
As the clock ticked away, the team from the western part of town grew in strength, but were unable to find a winner as the referee blew the final whistle.
Western Sydney have now gone five games without being defeated on a derby day against arch-rivals Sydney FC. Both teams take on Central Coast Mariners in their respective next matches, as the Wanderers travel to take on the Gosford men on Tuesday while Corica’s men play host to them on Friday.
