The Western Sydney Wanderers returned to winning ways in impressive fashion on Sunday as they defeated Bankstown Berries 3-0, lifting them to third position on the PS4 NPL2 ladder.
With goals from Tariq Maia, Mario Shabow and Josh Macdonald creating a three goal buffer, it was a slid and professional performance from the Red & Black who now sit just two points shy of first place.
It was a dominant display from the start with the Wanderers camped deep in Berries territory, only a good save and decent block stopped Josh Macdonald and Cameron Devlin from opening the scoring early.
Lachlan Scott was up next after a penetrating pass from Shayne D’Cunha found the centre forward but Scott could only hit wide of the net despite rounding a defender.
Wanderers didn’t have to wait too much longer until gaining a deserved lead as Devlin played a wonderful pass to Macdonald whose cross was put into the net by Tariq Maia.
The second half saw Berries come out with more purpose in attack but it backfired very quickly as the Wanderers hit them on the counter-attack twice in three minutes.
First it was Mario Shabow who collected an excellent pass to go one-on-one with the Berries keeper, slotting the ball home in a very calm fashion.
Then Macdonald made it 3-0 as he broke the offside trap to seal the victory.
The night became one to remember for youngsters Ramy Najjarine and Jordan Morfitis who both came off the bench to make their debuts in the second half.
Both players have impressed recently in the U20s and their promotion to the first team was just reward for their efforts.
Next up for Wanderers is an away match against Fraser Park on Saturday 23 April. Kick-off for first grade is 7pm.
Western Sydney Wanderers 3 (Tariq Maia 29’ Mario Shabow 52’ Joshua Macdonald 54’)
Bankstown Berries 0
Western Sydney Wanderers: Matt Symes (GK), Jackson Bandiera, Shabyne D’Cunha, Jonathan Aspropotamitis, Keanu Baccus, Liam Youlley (Jordan Morfitis 69’), Cameron Devlin, Mario Shabow, Joshua Macdonald, Tariq Maia (Ramy Najjarine 61’), Lachlan Scott (Brenton Fox 80’)
Unused subs: Nick Suman (GK), Mathieu Cordier
Other results
U20: WSW 3-1 Berries (Peter Kekeris, Daniel Blachura, Henry Davies)
U18s: WSW 4-0 Berries (Joshua Bartalotto, Lachlan Campbell, Dean Krkovski, Jerry Skotadis)
U16s: Macarthur Rams 1-8 WSW (Bailey Rule x2, Jarrod Carluccio, Jaden Casella, Jacob Casha, Jackson Mortimer, Yousef Sawalha)
U15s: Macarthur Rams 3-1 WSW (Yinka Sunmola)
U14s: Macarthur Rams 1-4 WSW (Peter Grozos, Daniel Milicic, Gabriel Popovic, Tom Ruperto)
