The Western Sydney Wanderers have extended their lead at the top of the Foxtel Y-League Conference B table to seven points after coming from behind twice to defeat Newcastle Jets 5-3 at Marconi Stadium on Friday night.
The Red & Black prevailed thanks to a double from Kosta Grozos, as well as goals from Mohamed Adam, Mark Tokich and an own goal in second-half stoppage time. For the Jets, Yerasimakis Petratos scored twice with Antonee Burkey-Gilroy also getting on the scoresheet.
Newcastle got off to a flyer, taking the lead after five minutes when a free kick from Petratos flew over the wall and past Wanderers keeper Nicholas Suman.
The Jets almost made it 2-0 soon after, but Suman made a fantastic save to deny former Wanderer Mario Shabow.
The Red & Black would soon find their rhythm in the match and equalised in the 12th minute.
Adam made no mistake in firing into the bottom corner after a great switch of play by Moudi Najjar.
A stroke of misfortune saw the Wanderers fall behind again. Petratos scored his second after an unfortunate deflection off Adrian Valenti.
The Red & Black weren’t deterred and Fabian Monge got on the end of Mark Tokich’s excellent through ball only to see his shot deflected wide.
Early in the second half, the Wanderers would level the scores once more and make it 2-2.
Abraham Majok’s persistence created a fantastic chance for Tokich who shook off two defenders before slotting the ball past the keeper.
After a number of chances for Grozos, Adam and Majok, the Wanderers finally took the lead with just over 20 minutes to go.
The Wanderers put the pressure on the Jets, moving the ball quickly in the final third before Kosta Grozos beat a defender on the edge of the penalty area, firing low to snatch the lead.
The Red & Black were well on top at this stage of the match, however, the Jets made it 3-3 through Burke-Gilroy scoring against the run of play.
Persistent and determined, the Wanderers took the lead five minutes later when Grozos played a clever one-two before surging past a defender and scoring from 25-yards out.
In the final minutes, there were chances at both ends with Wanderer Jordan Hall making a vital block to prevent Newcastle from equalising again.
The victory was made safe in stoppage time when Kieran Hayes turned the ball into his own net after a determined run and cross from Majok.
The Wanderers will now travel to the Australian Institute of Sport for their second meeting with Canberra United. Kick-off is at 4:30pm.
Western Sydney Wanderers 5 (Mohamed Adam 12’ Mark Tokich 51’ Kosta Grozos 70’ 83’ Kieran Hayes OG 90+2’)
Newcastle Jets 3 (Yerasimakis Petratos 5’ 37’ Antonee Burke-Gilroy 78’)
Western Sydney Wanderers: Nicholas Suman (c), Tate Russell, Jordon Hall, Tass Mourdoukoutas, Adrian Valenti, Fabian Monge (Abdelrahman Kuku 90+4’), Kosta Grozos, Mark Tokich (Tacettin Kumsuz 85’), Abraham Majok, Mohamed Adam, Moudi Najjar (Matthew Lecce 64’)
Unused substitute: Daniel Axford
