Table topping Wanderers unstoppable in triumph over Manly United
A classy 5-0 victory from Western Sydney Wanderers FC over Manly United FC at Cromer Park has seen them go four-points clear at the summit of the National Premier Leagues Men’s NSW competition in their Round 9 clash.
Both teams had their fair share of chances but ultimately Zac Sapsford, Marcus Younis and Aydan Hammond propelled the visitors to victory. Sapsford in particular continuing his fine goal scoring run with his sixth of the season. Adam Bugarija also got his name on the scoresheet late with two goals of his own.
From the moment the first whistle blew both sides fired early warning shots at each other.
Less than a minute in Kieren Paull came to the rescue for Manly as he headed away a dangerous Wanderers attacking ball into the box. Then it was Connor Rose who returned fire with a mazy run, as well as a powerful shot from the edge of the box eight-minutes in that was palmed away by Taiga Harper.
After a curling Marcus Younis attempt landed just wide, Nathanael Blair opened the scoring in the 12th minute in as his low-cutting attempt close to goals beat Levi Kaye with ease.
Unfortunately for both sides however Connor Rose and Dylan Scicluna suffered an early body-on-body collision and after his second time colliding with the opposition on the 21st minute mark Rose had to be substituted off.
Younis continued to loom large post the physicality as he scored an individual bicycle on the stroke of half-time that left Manly stunned.
Manly themselves left to rue their own mistakes as in quick succession Stefano Rosello and Saxon Hillyer blazed their attempts over the top of the bar bringing the first half to a close.
The second half began similarly to the first as each of Taiga Harper and Levi Kaye diffused potentially disastrous moments for their respective sides.
Whilst just minutes later in the 58th minute mark, Hammond should’ve added a third as his shot landed millimetres over the bar.
Western Sydney’s dominance continued as Hammond again came close as he headed the ball over the Manly defence, but his attempt went just wide of the mark.
A close Stefan Visscher miss proved costly as Hammond got his goal in the 80th minutes and Bugarija rounded things up just five minutes from full-time.
And in the fifth minute of added time Bugarija unleashed a powerful shot the blazed into the back of the net as he bagged his second of the evening securing the five goal margin of victory to keep the Red and Black youngsters atop of the NPL Men’s NSW ladder.
Wanderers head coach Andrew Christiansen was delighted with the full-time result.
“I’m happy with a lot of things, but for me the clean sheet is probably the biggest take away.
“And I’m also happy for the boys, they deserve to be there at the top.”
However Manly’s long serving player Kieren Paull cut a more dejected figure.
“It’s not a great result for us.
“We need to refocus, get together as a team and focus on the stuff that hasn’t been going well. Our quality needs to be on show more”.
Match Stats
Manly United FC 0
Western Sydney Wanderers FC 5 (Nathanael Blair 12’, Marcus Younis 45+3’, Aydan Hammond 80’, Adam Bugarija 85’, 90+5’)
Saturday 7 April 2024
Cromer Park, Cromer
Referee: Kurt Ams
Assistant Referees: Aaron Bloch and Thomas Bury
Fourth Official: Charlotte Flynn
Manly United FC:1. Levi Kaye, 2.Kieren Paull, 3.Zac Sfiligoi, 6.Saxon Hillyer, (7.Peter Kekeris 21’), 8.Joseph Fox, (9.Ben Koop 69’), 11.Connor Rose, 12.Miguel Bauza, (14.Stefan Visscher 69’), (16.Zayne Ahluwalia 69’), 19.Alen Aganovic, 25.Rocco Pelle, 27.Corey Cronin, (34.Jack Mason 69’), 39.Stefano Rossello
Substitutes Not Used: 41.Monty Partington
Yellow Cards: Kieran Paull 44’, Miguel Bauza 45+1’
Red Cards: Nil
Western Sydney Wanderers FC:1.Taiga Harper, 2.Anthony Pantazapolous, 4.Doni Grdic, 6.Dylan Scicluna, 7.Marcus Younis, 9.Nathaniel Blair, 10.Alexander Badolato, 11.Adam Bugarija, 13.Ayden Hammond, 14.Zac Sapsford, (23.Marucs Fernandez 86’), 25.Ryley Hollingdale, (99.Ryan Devine 62’)
Substitutes Not Used: 2.Nathan Barrie, 20.Lucas Sinnott, 22.Jesse Cameron, 99.Ryan Devine
Yellow Cards: Alexander Badolato 87’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 – Adam Bugarija (WSW)
2 – Marcus Younis (WSW)
1 – Zac Sapsford (WSW)
-By Tobias Canning
