Round 1 Match Report v Wanderers
Wanderers dominate Sharks in convincing victory
17 February , 2024 By Football NSW
Western Sydney Wanderers started its 2024 National Premier Leagues Men’s NSW campaign on the right foot with a good performance defeating the Sutherland Sharks 3-1 at the Wanderers Football Park on Saturday.
A brace from Nathanael Blair and a headed effort from Doni Grdic contributed to a comfortable win for the home side, who could have easily had more throughout the game.
Western Sydney Wanderers started the better of the two sides and were unlucky not to have scored in what was a crazy goal scoring opportunity in the 8th minute.
A corner from Marcus Fernandez fell to Adam Bugarija on the edge of the box who saw his well struck effort blocked off the line by Matthew Moric.
Seconds later, the ball was crossed in once more from closer range by Fernandez, and this found the towering head of Nathan Barrie, whose glancing header struck the post.
Sutherland’s fortune continued minutes later when the home side struck the woodwork once more.
ZacSapsford played a wonderful through ball to Blair who had only the keeper to beat, but his effort rattled the post for the second time for the Wanderers.
The deadlock was broken just after the half an hour mark and against the run of play when Sutherland took the lead.
The Sharks opened the scoring when Wanderers’ goalkeeper Taiga Harper carelessly gave the ball away inside their own third. Moric pounced on the loose ball and set up Levi Sciuriaga who had a simple finish to put Sutherland 1-0 up much to the delight of Sutherland head coach Steven Zoric.
However, Wanderers had quite the reply, and straight from the kick off, some quick football from the home side led to Blair having another one-on-one, but this time the striker converted his effort clinically and levelled things up.
In the 51st minute, Western Sydney Wanderers took a well-deserved lead.
A fantastic corner delivery yet a gain from Fernandez found an unmarked Grdic in the heart of the penalty area, and he guided it home from close range to make it 2-1.
With ten minutes left, another goalkeeping error occurred but this time to Sharks new keeper Nenad Vekic, who fumbled the ball with his feet and Blair’s pressing paid off where he was able to secure a brace by putting it into an empty net. Needless to say a moment the experienced Vekic would want to forget in a hurry.
Phillip Gigliotti could have made it four only minutes later when his thunderous effort struck the woodwork for a third time for the Wanderers but it was to be the final meaningful moment of the match as the hosts secured a well deserved 3-1 win.
Wanderers head coach Andrew Christiansen reflected on the game and praised his side’s character.
“I think we could have been more clinical throughout the whole game, and it would have been a more impressive score line.
“But I was impressed by the group’s resilience when things aren’t necessarily clicking and they score with a mistake from us, and against the run of play.
“Mistakes will happen, but I want to see the boys show belief in what they’re doing and how they are in themselves, and I certainly saw that.”
Match Stats
Western Sydney Wanderers FC 3 (Blair ’32, ’80, Grdic ’51)
Sutherland Sharks FC 1 (Sciuriagia ’31)
Saturday 17 February 2024
Wanderers Football Park
Referee: Jake Rose
Assistant Referees: Lindsay Edmonds & Thomas Bury
Fourth Official: James Makris
Western Sydney Wanderers FC: 1. Taiga Harper, 2. Nathan Barrie, 4. Doni Grdic, 9. Nathanael Blair, 11. Adam Bugarija (18. Awan Lual ’81), 12. Zachary Sapsford (29. Evangelos Kalamvokis ’89), 22. Jesse Cameron, 23. Marcus Fernandez, 25. Ryley Hollingdale, 77. Phillip Gigliotti, 99. Ryan Devine
Unused subs: 16. Roman Culina, 19. Dimo Dimo, 20. Lucas Sinnott, 24. Antony Barbic
Yellow cards: Cameron ‘8, Blair ‘78
Red cards: nil
Sutherland Sharks FC: 1. Nenad Vekic, 2. Kotaro Katsuta (21. Luke Sauer ’71), 3. Jordan Roberts (91. Jonty Busch 77’), 6. Samuel Gulisano, 10. Mason Fernandez (8. Mohamed Ahmed ’77), 11. Jay McGowan (7. James Cakovski ’56) , 15. Matthew Moric, 23. Ethan Beaven, 26. Jacob Garner, 27. Matthew Jackson (9. Maxx Green ’77), 77. Levi Sciuriaga
Unused subs: 99. Jacob Cremen-Cowan
Yellow cards: Gulisano ‘17
Red cards: nil
Player Ratings:
3: Adam Bugarija (WSW)
2: Nathanael Blair (WSW)
1: Ryley Hollingdale (WSW)
By Liam O’Sullivan (@liamdlosullivan)