Wanderers go down in Sydney derby, Villa strikes again
October 19, 2014
Spain striker David Villa, meanwhile, continued to make his mark in his 10-match loan period in Australia, scoring an equaliser to earn a point for Melbourne City for the second week in a row in their match against Newcastle Jets on Sunday.
Champions Brisbane Roar were denied their first points of the season when Andy Keogh completed a hat-trick with a stoppage time header to give Perth Glory a 3-2 win, while 2013 title winners Central Coast Mariners were also upset 2-1 at home by Wellington Phoenix.
More than 106,000 fans turned out to watch the five matches, a record for a regular season weekend in the burgeoning league.Adelaide United attracted 33,126 to their city´s famous cricket ground for their 1-1 draw with Melbourne Victory on Friday but the biggest crowd was always going to be at the sold out Sydney Football Stadium.
Wanderers, who started their third A-League campaign with a 4-1 defeat to the Victory last week, initially upstaged the twice champion Sky Blues in front of a passionate 41,213 crowd by taking a 2-0 lead in the first 24 minutes.
Wanderers striker Mark Bridge lashed the first home against his former club before a horrendous error from Sydney FC´s Vedran Janjetovic saw the goalkeeper tip a high ball into his own net.
Corey Gameiro got one back when he slid the ball into the net just before halftime, though, and central defender Sasa Ognenovski somehow equalised through a crowd of limbs three minutes after the break.
Things looked bleak for Wanderers when Brazilian playmaker Vitor Saba was sent off for a two-footed challenge in the 69th minute and 10 minutes later Sydney FC skipper Alex Brosque poked the ball home from close range to secure all three points for his side.
"It doesn´t jolt my confidence," Wanderers coach Popovic, whose team face Saudi Arabia´s Al-Hilal in the first leg of the Asian Champions League final at Parramatta Stadium next Saturday, told reporters.
"It just shows that there are a few things we have to work on and we´re getting punished for our mistakes. It´s easy, we´ve got an ACL final coming up and it will be easy to get motivated for that." (Reuters)
