Brendon Santalab has predicted a bright future for the Western Sydney Wanderers despite a derby loss to cross-town rivals Sydney FC.
The 3-1 defeat at a sodden Allianz Stadium has left the door open for the chasing pack to overhaul the Wanderers who currently occupy the sixth finals spot.
While admitting the Sky Blues were the better side, Santalab believes the Wanderers have plenty to look forward to in the not-to-distant future.
“They’ve been exceptional the last two years, there’s no doubt about it,” Santalab told Fox Sports.
“Every club strives to be where they are [and] we’ll get there.
“If you look at the table and the difference in points, we’re a bit off.
“In a couple of years our new stadium will be built, we’ve got big things happening at the club so it’s positive still,” he said.
Here's the goal by @ORiera9 that had us 1-0 up.
?: @FOXSportsAUS #WSW #SydneyDerby pic.twitter.com/rP4kpWkowS
— WS Wanderers FC (@wswanderersfc) February 25, 2018
Western Sydney took the lead when Oriol Riera tapped home his twelfth goal of the campaign, but strikes either side of half-time from Adrian Mierzejewski gave the Sky Blues the lead before Bobo made the points safe with 15 minutes left.
“We started off really well and it was disappointing to let that lead go,” Santalab said.
“That goal before half-time probably gave Sydney a lot of confidence.
“They brought that out into the second half and were the better team.”