A goal down and a man down, Western Sydney Wanderers refused to accept the fate of their Sydney Derby defeat until the final whistle blew at Commbank Stadium, with Sydney FC clutching tightly to their 1-0 advantage.
It was a on the road win the for the Sky Blues, decided by a stellar first-half strike from the in-form Max Burgess, and helped along its way by a red card brandished to Wanderers winger Yeni Ngbakoto for raising his left hand to the face of Paulo Retre in back-play just beyond the hour mark.
But despite going down a man, the Wanderers continued to carve out chances.
The hosts felt aggrieved not to have taken at least a point, if not three, away from the tight encounter – and in a passionate post-match dissection, Western Sydney winger Brandon Borrello let his frustrations be heard in a brilliant, emotionally-charged post-match interview to savour.
“It’s disappointing,” Borrello told Paramount+ post-match. “If I’m being brutally honest, mate, they deserved nothing.
“They couldn’t play out.
“We had one man less and they just sat off, they were scared of us the whole game… they can count themselves lucky they scored one goal. Good for them.
“It is what it is, mate. We’re obviously shattered.
“It’s hard not to sound like a sore loser, but bang average.”
