Western Sydney Wanderers celebrated their first Isuzu UTE A-League win over Melbourne City at AAMI Park since 2015 after claiming a shock 2-0 victory on Saturday evening.
Not since a Tony Popovic-led Wanderers side defeated City 3-0 in November 2015 had Western Sydney trumped the Melbourne-based outfit at the venue in the A-Leagues but that nine-year drought came to an end in Round 6.
Subway Socceroos hopeful Nicolas Milanovic and substitute Marcus Antonsson guided the Wanderers to just their second win of the season, having lost 4-2 to rivals Sydney FC last time out.
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Milanovic moved to the top of the Golden Boot charts with his fifth goal of the season as former Leeds United striker Antonsson scored in back-to-back games for Western Sydney, who moved within two points of the top six.
City – who had the bye in Round 5 and were without Socceroo Mathew Leckie due to another injury – remain fifth but six points behind high-flying leaders Melbourne City.
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There was goalmouth drama inside the opening three minutes, and the Wanderers were fortunate to emerge unscathed and with a clean sheet intact.
Star goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas scrambled to keep the ball from crossing the line and he was scrambling once more on the floor to stop another effort as his Western Sydney team-mates somehow cleared the danger.
At the other end, Milanovic hit the post 10 minutes prior to half-time as the Wanderers threatened.
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Shortly afterwards, Nathaniel Atkinson wasted a good opportunity for City and it was a similar story for Western Sydney captain and Socceroo Brandon Borrello two minutes later following a fine pass from Jack Clisby.
As half-time approached, Milanovic drew a foul from Calum Talbot inside the box and the Socceroos hopeful made no mistake with his spot-kick.
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City continued to push forward in search of an equaliser in the second half but the home side lacked pace to really trouble the Wanderers.
Antonsson and Juan Mata came off the bench late in the game and the former iced the result for Western Sydney with a neat finish, after City captain Aziz Behich was caught in possession.
Former Manchester United, Chelsea and Spain superstar Mata almost opened his A-Leagues account in stoppage time.
