Sydney FC win 44th Sydney Derby and go third

Sydney FC beat Western Sydney Wanderers 2-0 in the 44th edition of the Sydney Derby thanks to goals from Al Hassan Touré and Apostolos Stamatelopoulos.

Al Hassan Touré scored his first goal since December and Apostolos Stamatelopoulos chipped home the second to give Patrick Kisnorbo his first win as Sydney FC head coach.

Their 22nd win in Sydney Derbies lifts Sydney FC to third on the Isuzu UTE A-League ladder thanks to an all-important second goal that puts them ahead of Adelaide United. Western Sydney are three points adrift at the foot of the table.

The first chance came for the Sky Blues when Ben Garuccio deftly controlled a long ball, surged into the penalty area and slid it across the face of goal and Apostolos Stamatelopoulos came within inches of turning it in on the slide. Ahmet Arslan pounced on a poor pass from Anthony Pantazopoulos just moments later and saw his curling shot parried well by Lawrence Thomas.

Wataru Kamijo gave away a needless free kick when he bundled into Angus Thurgate after 12 minutes. Pantazopoulos took aim and his effort dipped and forced Harrison Devenish-Meares into a slightly uncomfortable save.

View this post on Instagram

Garuccio was found again by a long, diagonal pass and after he wrestled to keep possession, Piero Quispe picked out Al Hassan Touré whose first-time effort skidded disappointingly wide of the post.

But just minutes later, Touré broke his four-month goalscoring drought when Kamijo picked him out inside the area and he took one touch before slamming home the opener at the keeper’s near post.

The Sky Blues slipped far too easily through all three lines of the Western Sydney Wanderers but when Stamatelopoulos rounded Thomas, Josh Brillante was there to chest it away off the line. The flag went up soon after.

The last ten minutes of the first half saw the brandishing of five yellow cards and in the 43rd minute Brandon Borrello – who had ignited that fiery period – received the ball, poked it cleverly from under his feet and unleashed a shot from just outside the area that dipped and cracked against the top of the crossbar.

Western Sydney thought they had an equaliser just shy of the hour mark when Steven Ugarković whipped in a cross that was headed towards goal by Borrello and drew an excellent, diving save from Devenish-Meares. But as the ball bounced back off the bar, Bozhidar Kraev did well to reach it first and turn his header in over the scrambling Sydney goalkeeper. But upon VAR inspection, the ball had struck Kraev’s hand as he battled for the loose ball and the goal was chalked off.

The introduction of Ryan Fraser looked immediately threatening and when his first shot was deflected behind, the resulting corner brought a fine, glancing header from Pantazopoulos that looped across the face and bounced off the top of the crossbar.

Western Sydney scrambled well to prevent the match from getting away from them when Thomas parried a strong shot from Tiago Quintal into the path of 16 year-old Akol Akon and he saw his follow-ups blocked by Alex Gersbach and then the recovering ‘keeper.

Quintal was involved again when he regained possession in a dangerous area and tidily clipped the ball between two Wanderers defenders for Stamatelopoulos who coolly lifted his finish over Thomas and into the back of the net to seal the derby for the Sky Blues.