The Wanderers are back home on Friday night as they host the reigning champion Central Coast Mariners.
Get your tickets to the match here.
It is their second fixture in the space of four days after the Red and Black were on the other side of the country, where they took on and defeated the Perth Glory.
It wasn’t the prettiest of wins, but Zac Sapsford’s second half goal saw the Wanderers take home a 2-1 victory and get their first win of the New Year.
It puts the Wanderers in a great position to push into the top six with a win on Friday, and they will back themselves against an out of sorts Mariners side.
The vast amount of player exits from the coast is beginning to take its toll, with Mark Jackson’s men winning just three games all season, as they also juggle Asian Champions League Football.
They have lost key players in Max Balard, Josh Nisbet, Jacob Farrell and Danny Vukovic either to transfers abroad or retirement, and it has left a huge hole in their squad they have been largely unable to fill.
It took them until round five to get their first win, and they have won just one of their last six.
To make matters worse, all three of their losses in that time have seen them ship four goals, a concerning change from their defensive solidity last season.
It is their struggles up front which are arguably worse; they have just 12 goals in 12 games, the second lowest in the competition, and their top scorers in the league are Alou Kuol and Harry Steele with just two each.
The Wanderers currently sit four points ahead of the Mariners, and have also got a few players hitting form going forward.
Sapsford’s goal against Perth was his fourth of the league season and fifth overall, and he was assisted by Nicolas Milanovic, who has nine goals in all competitions this season.
Juan Mata has also been in a good spell of form recently, scoring against Macarthur on New Years Day and being a calming and quality presence in the middle of the park or further out wide.
The Wanderers are still battling against player availability issues, which is impacting them in defence in particular.
Joshua Brillante has been forced to play at centre back in the past two weeks, a position central midfielder Dean Pelekanos has also occupied in recent weeks.
It has given chance to young guns Alex Bonetig and Anthony Pantazopoulos to stand up, and the latter has done well to begin 2025.
He has scored his first ever senior goal, and won all 10 of his aerial duels against the Glory at right back.
A lack of a clean sheet since a win against Melbourne City in December will frustrate Alen Stajcic and his players, and he will hope a match against a Central Coast side potentially lacking in confidence may be the game for this run to change.
The sides only met twice last season and both were tight encounters, though the Wanderers unfortunately lost both.
They went down 1-0 at CommBank Stadium thanks to a Marco Tulio goal, and in the return fixture in Gosford, an injury hit and depleted Wanderers side fell to a late defeat by the same scoreline after a Mikael Doka penalty.
These two games cost the Wanderers a Finals spot, they will be desperate to avoid the same fate again.
