Western Sydney Wanderers rising star Dylan Scicluna is now an Isuzu UTE A-League goalscorer – although the 20-year-old did face an anxious wait for his sensational maiden strike to be ratified in his side’s big win over Wellington Phoenix.
Scicluna’s 94th-minute wondergoal sealed an emphatic 4-1 triumph over Wellington at CommBank Stadium on Sunday; the young midfielder crashed a long-range attempt off the crossbar and although the ball did drop over the goal line, it did look marginal to the naked eye.
His Wanderers teammate Aydan Hammond then arrived on the scene to nod the ball over the line but Scicluna was already wheeling away in celebration of his first Isuzu UTE A-League goal.
Then came a lengthy delay as the video assistant referee (VAR) checked over the footage before eventually allowing the goal to stand – not before Scicluna engaged in a humorous exchange with on-field referee Alex King.
“I walked over to Kingy and went: ‘Kingy, you can’t do this to me! Please mate!’” Scicluna told Network 10 after full-time.
“I’ve worked my absolute backside off, the whole team has. And then to top the performance off with a win and to score my first goal in the A-League, it’s unbelievable.”
The Wanderers are now surging up the Isuzu UTE A-League table off the back of two wins in three games; Alen Stajcic’s side have collected 10 of their 11 points for the season in their last five appearances and with Sunday’s win over Wellington, have broken into the top six – although their position on the table could change after Monday night’s clash between Macarthur Bulls in seventh and Central Coast Mariners in 10th.
In his second season at the Wanderers, Scicluna has been trusted with a pivotal starting role in Stajcic’s midfield after making just three starts in 16 games last season and has been one of the standout performers in recent weeks in a team on the rise.
After bagging his first Isuzu UTE A-League goal, he’s eager to help keep his side on an upward trajectory.
“It (the win) was huge for us,” he said.
“We’ve been a bit up and down with consistency and results this season, but for us we just want to build on that now with momentum, go on and focus on the next game: Adelaide away, try and get three points there and go on a run.
“It doesn’t matter who we’re going to play, every week we go in with the same mentality, and confidence to win the game, get three points and play the way we do, no matter how the opposition play. If we play like that and bounce off each other like that, we back ourselves to win any game.”
Scicluna was the fourth individual goalscorer in a big win over Wellington on Sunday. Zac Sapsford sparked the action with a first-minute strike before Bozhidar Kraev and Marcus Antonsson scored on either side of Wellington star Hideki Ishige’s stunning bicycle kick in the second half.
The 2024-25 campaign is shaping as a breakout season for Scicluna, who joined Western Sydney in 2023-24 after 10 years in the UK split across stints at Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
After Sunday’s 4-1 win, Stajcic doubled down on a statement delivered earlier this season about Scicluna’s potential to become one of the best players in the league on his current trajectory.
“He’s obviously just starting out on his A-League journey,” Stajcic said.
“He’s really just starting to cement a spot in the group, he hasn’t had that before and last year he played a couple of games, mainly off the bench and in different positions as well.
“But he’s becoming one of the key players in the league, I think. His attributes are good and I think I said in a press conference before: he’s got some things he needs to clean up in his game but his good attributes are really strong and powerful.
“If he keeps developing and progressing, in the next two or three years I think he’s going to be one of the best players in the A-League.”
Born in Melbourne, the 20-year-old is eligible to represent Australia but just last month was called up to Malta’s senior international squad, only to withdraw due to injury.
