An undermanned Western Sydney Wanderers NPL side suffered a narrow 2-1 defeat away to Mt Druitt Town Rangers on Saturday night.
With the side already being without Ariath Piol and Zac Sapsford due to suspension, they lost multiple players during the week due to illness, meaning a side featuring multiple players from the U20s side were on the teamsheet.
Despite this, the Wanderers had the first chance of the match after just two minutes, when Marcus Younis used trickery to get around his man and fired a shot across the goal, but it had too much elevation on it.
However the home side would take the lead in the 13th minute, when Nikola Djordjevic got on the end of a free kick and headed home from close range.
The response from the Wanderers was instant, and three minutes later they were level. Alex Bonetig whipped a cross into the box, and Younis acrobatically volleyed the ball into the bottom corner of the net out of the reach of Dylan Niski.
The home side hit the front again in the 22nd minute, when Kotaro Katsuta stole the ball high up the pitch and was able to put the ball in the back of the net.
The Wanderers looked to respond in the 36th minute as Younis once again got around his man and put a low cross in the box, but Alex Badolato was unable to convert.
The Wanderers continued to push in the second half; Badolato had a long range effort from distance that went just over the bar, and Nathaneal Blair put a header onto the crossbar soon after.
But despite a valiant effort without multiple key players, Western Sydney were unable to find an equaliser.
They will hope to have more troops back on deck next week when they travel to face NWS Spirit.
