The Wanderers have put on a clinic in the Sunday afternoon sun, putting four past the Wellington Phoenix in a 4-1 win at CommBank Stadium.
They led right from the off as Zac Sapsford scored after 47 seconds, and their victory moved them into the top six for the first time this season.
After a double last week, Brandon Borrello was able to get two assists, whilst Dylan Scicluna pulled the strings in midfield and was rewarded with his first ever senior goal.
Alen Stajcic’s side were frustrated not to take all three points in their previous match against Brisbane and were keen to start strongly from the off, and they did just that, albeit with a hint of luck.
Wellington defender Isaac Hughes slipped after trying to contain a long ball, allowing Borrello to attack the box from the right; he slid the ball to Sapsford, who with time and space swept the ball past Josh Oluwayemi.
The Wanderers were buzzing around the pitch, with Scicluna going close in the eighth minute as he fizzed a shot just wide of the goal, but they wouldn’t have to wait much longer to double their lead.
It was a great bit of play from the Red and Black as Nicolas Milanovic nicked the ball off the Phoenix defence and drove towards the goal, he fed a nice ball into Borrello who then tapped it straight into the path of Bozhidar Kraev, who sidefooted it home against his old club.
Borrello had back-to-back chances to get on the scoresheet, but was offline with both attempts, but the Wanderers were thoroughly in control during the first half and entered the break two to the good.
Wellington showed a bit more enthusiasm in the second half thanks to a couple of changes, but it was the Wanderers who still created chances.
Sapsford should have done better when presented with an opportunity in the box in the 51st minute, before Clisby fired an effort over the bar and Milanovic’s shot from the right-hand side was deflected onto the post.
Milanovic had another chance in the 59th minute as his curling effort drifted narrowly wide of the post, and the misses would come back to haunt the Wanderers.
A poor pass gave the Phoenix possession, and after the Wanderers couldn’t deal with a cross, Japanese import Hideki Ishige scored a bicycle kick from very close range to halve the deficit.
Sensing the momentum may have been changing, Stajcic went to the bench and introduced super sub Marcus Antonsson, and the Swede lived up to his name moments after coming on.
Cleur put in a strong cross from the right hand side, and Antonsson was in the right place to tap it home with his first touch of the ball, and giving the Wanderers a degree of comfort once again; it was his third goal as a substitute this season.
Fellow substitute Aydan Hammond then went close to scoring his second goal of the season but was denied by a good smothering save from Oluwayemi, whilst Borrello had another effort saved by the goalkeeper in his fruitless search for a goal.
Lawrence Thomas made a fantastic reaction save in stoppage time to keep the deficit, and it ended up being an important one as Scicluna, who had his best game in Red and Black to date, put the exclamation mark on a wonderful performance.
He almost fell over his own feet trying to get his shooting opportunity, but he made no mistake when he did get a shot away, firing a bullet of strike in via the crossbar; replays showed it crossed the line after the initial effort, but Hammond was on hand to head the ball home anyway.
The goal meant the Wanderers moved into the top six due to scoring more goals than Macarthur, and are on a three game unbeaten run.
