A second half fightback from the Wanderers has fallen short, as Adelaide United emerged 4-3 winners at CommBank Stadium on Saturday night.
On a night where the 10th anniversary of the club’s Asian Champions League was celebrated -including a guard of honour for many of the players and staff involved – they showed great fighting spirit to remain competitive after a difficult first half, but the Red and Black unfortunately gave themselves too much to do.
Juan Mata made his second start of the season in what was an unchanged lineup from the Wanderers’ draw against Western United in round 2, but they struggled to gain momentum against an Adelaide team up for the challenge after losing both times to Western Sydney last season.
The Reds took the lead after just four minutes when Luka Jovanovic scored from close range after Tristan Vidackovic’s initial save from a strong effort.
This gave the away side confidence, as they had control for the first portion of the game, meaning the Wanderers defence had to work hard.
Alex Bonetig pulled off an important sliding challenge to deny them in the 16th minute, but Adelaide then had a second goal through Zac Clough after an unfortunate error from Vidackovic.
Just when it looked like the game would get away from the home side, they hit back as Nicolas Milanovic scored his first goal of the season.
Jack Clisby’s cross from the left was poorly dealt with by the Adelaide defence, and Milanovic was Johnny on the spot to smash the ball home with a strong first-time finish.
Unfortunately for the Wanderers, the Reds hit back instantly in the 27th minute as former Wanderer Dylan Pierias scored with a clever outside of the boot shot from the edge of the box to restore Adelaide’s two-goal lead.
Western Sydney finished the half strongly as Mata had a good chance with a side footed volley that had to be blocked behind for a corner, whilst Milanovic had another effort on goal saved by goalkeeper James Delianov.
Coach Alen Stajcic sent the Wanderers out early after the half-time break and also made two changes, introducing Dylan Scicluna and Zac Sapsford, and they had the desired effect as the Red and Black once again halved the deficit.
A nice bit of build up play from the back put Sapsford in behind the Adelaide defence, and he slid the ball to Bozhidar Kraev, who tapped home to score his first goal in Wanderers colours.
The momentum swung again after the hour mark as Pierias scored his second after converting from the middle of the box.
Aydan Hammond was introduced off the bench and was involved in the Wanderers’ third goal, with his shot cannoning off the crossbar and leading to a goalmouth scramble that saw Brandon Borrello outjump Delianov to head home into an open goal and set up a grandstand finish.
The Wanderers dominated the ball and field position for the rest of the game, as Krave sent a header from a corner over the bar, and Hammond and fellow sub Ben Holliday missed chances to equalise.
Anthony Pantazopoulos, on for his first league minutes of the season, almost caught Delianov out at the near post with a sneaky shot attempt from the right wing, but the keeper was equal to it and made the save.
The Wanderers had a few corners to end the match, but couldn’t find a miraculous late goal to salvage a point.
They are at home again on Friday against the Newcastle Jets.
