Awer Mabil received a straight red card but Melbourne City held on to beat Western Sydney 2-1 in the A-League Men, with a late Nicolas Milanovic equaliser ruled out by VAR.
A 10-man Melbourne City have held on for a 2-1 win over Western Sydney after Awer Mabil was sent off then Wanderers star Nicolas Milanovic had a late would-be equaliser ruled out.
City scored in the fourth minute through a wonderful goal from Brazilian midfield debutant Matheus Rossetto, before a terrific Milanovic strike equalised in first-half injury time.
Andrew Nabbout put City in front in the 62nd minute, but Mabil’s brain snap three minutes later meant Aurelio Vidmar’s charges had to defend a man down for half an hour.
City could be without Mabil for multiple weeks after the Socceroo was bumped in the back by Dylan Scicluna then whipped around and swiped at the Wanderers midfielder’s face.
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Referee Alireza Faghani didn’t hesitate to send off the City star.
Milanovic thought he’d equalised with a powerful header in the 91st minute, but after a lengthy VAR review, the star attacker was deemed to have been offside and City held on.
For the opener, Mabil drove down the left then crossed into the box.
Scicula’s hacked clearance was a poor one that fell straight to the feet of Rossetto, who thundered a fierce strike back past the Wanderers midfield and into the net off the underside of the crossbar.
Rossetto hadn’t played in City’s first three games because of injury.
Bizarrely, play was stopped in the 16th minute as an unauthorised drone was flying over AAMI Park.
Milanovic fired warning shots in the 22nd and 28th minutes.
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The Wanderers deserved an equaliser and got it when Milanovic rode a challenge from Emiliano Marcondes and ripped a sensational left-foot strike into the opposite top corner.
Western Sydney were on top but couldn’t make their dominance count on the scoreboard, with keeper James Niewenhuizen terrific, and City regained the lead against the run of play.
Nathaniel Atkinson’s long throw into the 18-yard box was knocked on by teammate Julio Cascante for Nabbout to score.
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Mathew Leckie was arguably lucky to only receive a yellow card for a lunging challenge on Nathan Barrie in the 86th minute.
Niewenhuizen denied Aydan Hammond from close range, and minutes later City were relieved when Milanovic’s would-be equaliser was chalked off.
City head into the international break on a two-game winning run.
