The Western Sydney Wanderers NPL 1 Men’s side have walked away with a point against a 10-man Sydney FC in a nil-all draw on Saturday afternoon.
What was billed as a fiery clash certainly lived up to the hype. Both teams entered the match desperate for three points and left everything on the field, battling through 90 intense minutes that ultimately ended in a hard-fought stalemate.
The opening twenty minutes was a close, emotion filled contest. The two teams came together for a scuffle inside ten minutes that resulted in yellow cards for Saxon Hillyer and Sydney FC’s Mathias Macallister.
Macallister then found himself one on one with Tristan Vidakovic who made a great save to deny the initial shot, although the save looked to bounce its way into the back of the net if not for Lachlan Tilt, who sacrificed his own safety colliding with the post to clear it off the line.
Tilt’s heroics saw him come off at the end of the first half as he was unable to continue.
Richard Nkomo launched a Wanderers attack in the 32nd minute as his solo run down the left forced a great save from distance by Sydney goalkeeper Gus Hoefsloot.
Hoefsloot was forced into a handful of saves before the landscape of the game was changed in the 45th minute, as Sydney’s Lachlan Middleton was given a red card for a high foot on Hilyer.
Alaat Abdul-Rahman almost broke the deadlock right before if not for a goal line clearance by the opposition defence. This took the game into half time at nil-all.
The story of the second half was very much about Hoefsloot, the Wanderers threw everything they had at the Sydney goalkeeper and unfortunately it wasn’t enough to beat him, as he produced twelve saves in the game.
Edmun Haddad came agonisingly close to breaking the deadlock but his shot from distance was only denied by the outstretched arm of Hoefsloot.
The result leaves the Wanderers frustrated, feeling they should have capitalised on Sydney FC being reduced to ten men. However, they’ll take pride in the attacking pressure they applied, recording their highest number of shots on target in a match this season.
They will want to build on this performance as they take on Manly next Saturday in a must win clash if they want to lift off the bottom of the table.
