Propelled by a Luka Jovanovic brace, Adelaide United further added to Western Sydney’s woes with a 4-2 win over the Wanderers on Friday night.
While the defending from both sides left a lot to be desired, the Reds’ superior potency in front of goal at CommBank Stadium helped lift them, temporarily at least to third on the A-League ladder.
In contrast, the Wanderers remain anchored to the bottom of the table after suffering their 11th defeat from 22 games this season.
Such is the tight battle for the sixth and final spot in May’s finals series, Western Sydney remains a mathematical chance to finish in the top-six.
However, realistically, the 2014 champions of Asia are heading for their first A-League wooden spoon unless they find some form over the closing weeks of the regular season.
Wanderers midfielder Angus Thurgate was left to lament another disappointing performance from his team.
“It’s been a similar story all season,” Thurgate told Paramount Plus.
“We worked hard to get ourselves in a good position and then we just lose it in moments in our defensive blocks. It’s happened too many times this season.”
The Wanderers started positively, going ahead in the ninth minute through the unlikely source of left-back Alex Gersbach.
Found unmarked in Adelaide’s penalty area by a clever pass from midfielder Dylan Scicluna, Gersbach failed to properly with his shot but did enough for the score despite Adelaide defender Bart Vriends’ attempt to clear the ball to safety.
It was just Gersbach’s second goal in 60 A-League appearances.
However, Western Sydney’s habit of failing to hold on to leads continued in the 22nd minute when Reds striker Jovanovic equalised with a sweet finish after being gifted possession in the Wanderers’ penalty area from a rare mistake from Scicluna.
Both sides had good chances to score again before half-time.
Jovanovic should have done better from close range in the 28th minute, while Reds goalkeeper Joshua Smits soon after made two saves in the space of 60 seconds to deny Wanderers pair Steven Ugarkovic and Gersbach.
Those saves proved crucial, with the Reds going ahead in first-half stoppage-time through Spanish import Juan Muniz, as the visitors made Wanderers defender Jarrod Carluccio pay for losing possession.
The hosts thought they had equalised seven minutes into the second-half through Ugarkovic but Carluccio was ruled to be interfering with play in an offside position.
However, Western Sydney’s equaliser came in the 55th minute from a brilliant Thurgate strike after a through ball from defender Anthony Pantazopoulos caught Adelaide’s defence dozing.
The see-sawing nature of the contest continued eight minutes later when Jovanovic completed his double with his ninth goal of the season.
The Reds sealed the three points in the 73rd minute when defender Panagiotis Kikianis scored his first goal of the season after Pantazopoulos failed to clear a free-kick following some hesitant goalkeeping from Lawrence Thomas.
Reds midfielder Ethan Alagich described his side’s win as “massive” after three successive draws.
“Three draws in a row, we didn’t lose but we felt we could have got more,” Alagich said.
“Now we’ve probably created a bit of separation from the rest of the group, and now we’ll keep pushing and try to go higher.”
Sick Fraser
Western Sydney’s hopes of victory were dented when star winger Ryan Fraser failed to emerge for the start of the second-half,
The Wanderers’ most dangerous player since joining the club in January from English Championship outfit Southampton had to be substituted after vomiting at half-time, according to Paramount Plus.
It was perhaps an illness that explained Fraser’s relatively quiet first-half compared to his previous A-League performances which had included four goals and three assists in his eight games for the Wanderers before Friday night.
