A lone goal from midfielder Jordon Mutch was just enough for the Western Sydney Wanderers to secure an important three points against Western United in Ballarat on Sunday night.
Mutch capitalised on a mistake made by Western United’s Jerry Skotadis to score the only goal in the fixture, the result pushing the Wanderers to third place on the ladder.
It was positive signs from the outset by the Red & Black who looked more in control and as if they have turned a page from their previous two disappointing fixtures.
The Wanderers were led on the sidelines by assistant coach Kenny Miller who stepped up and replaced head coach Carl Robinson who was watching the match from the hotel due to illness.
Both Bernie Ibini and Mitchell Duke had chances to open the scoring in the opening half while Ziggy Gordon was tasked with stopping any opportunities created by United’s Alessandro Diamanti.
With no goal yet to open the deadlock, the end of the first half saw Ibini clearly brought down in the box with VAR dismissing any chance of a penalty at the stroke of half-time.
The Wanderers headed into the break 0-0 and came out of the sheds firing and ready to get something out of the match.
Goalkeeper Daniel Margush was continously called into action, making a number of strong saves in the opening stanza of the second half to keep Western United at bay.
Just over 10 minutes into the half, midfielder Mutch made an important run, pouncing on a mistake made by United’s Skotadis to fire a neat and clever goal.
A number of subsitutions by assistant coach Kenny Miller followed and the Wanderers were pushing hard to extend their lead in Ballarat.
Forward Simon Cox looked as if he got his name on the scoreesheet with his perfectly-timed header just trickling past the goal before Kwame Yeboah rattled the post with a powerful strike.
The Wanderers defended their hearts out after United threw everything at them in the final team minutes, holding onto a very important clean sheet and three points.
The Red & Black will now have the week off before returning back to Bankwest Stadium to take on Wellington Phoenix and Perth Glory respectively.
