Western Sydney Wanderers have breathed life into their Isuzu UTE A-League campaign with a crucial 2-0 win over Melbourne Victory.
REACTION: Kelava blunders cost Victory: ‘He’s got to look in the mirror‘
Second-half goals from Tate Russell and Dimi Petratos, who converted an 80th-minute penalty, gave Mark Rudan’s side their second win of his tenure.
The result moves the Wanderers to one win outside of the finals spots and weakened the Victory’s position in the table.
“I’m really happy with the result but football’s a funny game because I thought the performance wasn’t as good as the last few games,” Rudan said.
“I think you saw a difference in attitude and personnel. It was very tight and we knew it would be a tight game.
“I was really happy with their output and their effort.”
Tony Popovic’s outfit barely laid a glove on his old club and they have not won a league game since Boxing Day.
Popovic’s side lifted the FFA Cup earlier this month but ever since have struggled to find their groove.
“It’s been three games since the cup win and we are making some mistakes and teams are punishing us,” he said.
“They’re soft goals that we conceded today so in a game like this, a tight game, we need to be better in those details.”
In what must have been the most drab first halves in Isuzu UTE A-League history, the Wanderers mustered just two shots on target to Victory’s zero in front of a crowd of 4231 at Commbank Stadium.
The Wanderers thought they had got the breakthrough just after half-time when James Troisi made a darting run down the byline before crossing to Terry Antonis.
Antonis fired past inside Ivan Kelava’s near post but the celebration was shortlived after Troisi was ruled to have taken the ball dead in the build-up.
But Troisi’s misfortune mattered for little when Russell popped up to open the scoring in the 55th minute.
Making his first Isuzu UTE A-League start, 20-year-old centreback Phillip Cancar played a long ball over the top of the Victory defence with Kelava undecided whether to come or stay on his line.
His hesitation worked in Russell’s favour as he cushioned his header past the Victory keeper and into the net.
The goalkeeper’s day went from bad to worse when he raced to cut down a through ball to Bernie Ibini only to bring the Wanderers striker down in the box.
Petratos stepped up from the spot and buried the penalty with ease before wheeling away to celebrate with the home supporters.
LIVE FEED
By Matthew Comito for KEEPUP
FULL-TIME: Wanderers 2-0 Victory
That’s three defeats on the bounce for Victory since their FFA Cup final triumph, and a fifth winless game on the bounce as Mark Rudan orchestrated his second Wanderers win in four games at the helm.
Cancar on the line denies Victory with desperate clearance (9.43pm AEDT)
After setting up Russell’s opener, Cancar was on hand to keep his side’s sheet clean with a lunging goal-line clearance which came off the post after Ziggy Gordon’s lunging challenge on Chris Ikonomidis sent the ball spilling toward goal.
GOAL! Kelava cleans up Ibini to send Petratos to the spot (9.33pm AEDT)
Another clumsy error from Kelava has proven costly for the visitors, with the keeper collecting Wanderers substitute Bernie Ibini to send Dimitri Petratos to the spot to convert Western Sydney’s second of the night.
It’s turning into a horror show for the Victory gloveman as his side stare down the barrel of a fifth game without a win.
GOAL! Kelava in no man’s land as Russell puts Wanderers ahead (9.07pm AEDT)
A lofted through pass from Phillip Cancar picked out a perfectly-times Tate Russell run into the box, and his header dribbled past Kelava and into the back of the net as the Victory keeper found himself caught in between staying off his line and coming out to claim the aerial ball.
There was no commitment from Kelava which made it too easy for Russell to break the deadlock. Wanderers lead 1-0 as we tick toward the hour mark.
HALF-TIME
A half of very few chances ends goalless with Ivan Kelava slightly the busier of the two keepers at CommBank Stadium.
A long-range strike from James Troisi on the bounce was the Wanderers most dangerous chance of the first half as two struggling teams scrap for ascendancy.
KICK-OFF: Underway at CommBank Stadium (7.56pm AEDT)
An early offside call denied Melbourne Victory a genuine opportunity in the first attacking foray of the game.
Tony Popovic is in the opposition technical area at his former club, returning as a nemesis once again at Wanderland.
PRE-GAME
Mark Rudan’s Wanderers have disappointed in two successive Isuzu UTE A-League defeats; the red and black will be desperate to put on an improved performance at CommBank Stadium against the reigning FFA Cup champions struggling to convert cup form into league form on a run of four winless games.
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