After three consecutive heavy defeats, Western Sydney Wanderers bounced back into form with a 2-1 road win over Perth Glory at HBF Park on Saturday night.
The Wanderers travelled to Perth off the back of a 7-0 defeat to Melbourne City in midweek and head coach Marko Rudan saw an instant response from his side as Brandon Borrello put the visitors on top with his first goal of the season.
Adam Taggart fired back before the break but after mounting a sustained spell of second-half pressure on Western Sydney’s goal, Glory conceded once more to Wanderers substitute Lachlan Brook who scored his eighth goal of the campaign, initially ruled out for offside but allowed to stand after a VAR check.
Victory over Perth sent the under-fire Wanderers back into the top six, and left Glory 10 points adrift of the finals places.
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After full-time, Wanderers captain Marcelo was pictured on the Paramount+ broadcast venturing over to address the away fans, who had travelled out West desperate to see a reaction from their club to a poor run of results.
“We had a really good conversation,” Marcelo explained on the post-game show.
“We are together on this journey. They are really important for us, and we also need to show respect for them. They support us every game and our job is to come onto the field every game and give 100%, 200%.
We play for a lot of people. For our community, for our fans, for our members and that’s how it goes. Every game we have to go onto the field and give 100%.”
Marcelo went on to express the playing group’s commitment to turning one positive result into many more as they push for a place in the finals, as well as their unwavering faith in head coach Marko Rudan for the journey ahead.
“We started the season together and now we’re going to finish the season together,” he said.
“There’s no reason why to think something is going on in the inside of our group. The coach has been very important for us, he’s really passionate, he gives always his 100% for us in terms of his structure and information we need for every game.
“We talk about football, you know? Football is like that. Sometimes we have good times, sometimes we have bad times. The most important (thing) is to keep fighting and working to make this time change.”
The Wanderers took the lead just 10 minutes into the contest after a bright start in Perth when Sonny Kittel swung his corner toward the front post for Borrello to nod home his first goal of the season.
Oli Sail put two gloves on the ball but watched it sneak through his grasp in a disappointing moment for the Glory keeper.
Glory created a pair of good chances to equalise with the first wasted by Adam Taggart and the second thwarted by an excellent Lawrence Thomas save.
Giordano Colli created the initial opportunity. Having won possession high up the park he fed Taggart in the box but the Socceroo’s first touch was lacking, and allowed the Wanderers defence to swarm and stifle the space to shoot.
Mustafa Amini then set Daniel Bennie darting in on goal with a magnificent through ball and the teenager teed up a shot for David Williams on the edge of the box, pushed out for a corner by Thomas with a diving save.
Sail atoned for his early mishap when he denied Marcus Antonsson and the Wanderers failed to take advantage of the promising situation that followed.
On the cusp of half-time, Taggart found Perth’s leveller. A loose pass from Thomas out from the back invited the striker to steal the ball from Jorrit Hendrix and after hitting the deck in the challenge, Taggart quickly got to his feet to meet Colli’s delivery and finish at the penalty spot.
Williams had the chance to put Glory into the lead shortly before the hour mark when an inviting delivery from Josh Rawlins let to his diving effort inside the six-yard box. Williams failed to make proper connection in between Wanderers bodies and Thomas made the save.
The Williams chance sparked Glory’s now-trademark late push and if not for a series of committed blocks from Wanderers defenders the hosts would have hit the front with 20 minutes to play.
Thomas made a save to deny Daniel Bennie a maiden A-Leagues goal and although Taggart pounced on the spillage, Hendrix and Tom Beadling combined to block the shot away. Glory continued to attack and half-time substitute Jayden Gorman was found all alone to fire on goal but Aidan Simmons stood tall to repel the rasping effort off target.
Kittel had a rare sight on goal for the Wanderers after a barrage of Glory pressure, collecting the ball on the edge of the area and whipping an attempt just past the post.
The action was end-to-end and Gorman found himself with yet another big chance to put the hosts ahead when Bennie slid a backheeled pass into space in the box, but the substitute dragged his shot wide of the bottom corner.
Riley Warland had a free-kick from the edge of the area saved by Thomas as the game entered its final 10 minutes with the teams still locked at 1-1.
After withstanding a sustained period of pressure, the visitors had the ball in the back of the net when substitute Lachlan Brook tucked home on the rebound from Sail’s save in a one-on-one with Antonsson.
The offside flag originally denied the Wanderers but a VAR check reversed the decision; Antonsson was onside when Marcelo flicked Oscar Priestman’s header into his path, and Brook was behind the Swedish striker before the shot fell into his path.
