Antelmi brace guides United 58 to spirited victory over Wanderers
A quickfire double from Sydney United 58’s top goal scorer Patrick Antelmi was enough to lead his side to a 3-2 victory over the league-leading Western Sydney Wanderers on Sunday Afternoon at the Sydney United Sports Centre.
Antelmi’s brace gave the hosts a two-gaol buffer heading into the break, shortly before Stephen De Robillard extended it to three.
Another brace from Adam Bugarija gave the Wanderers a glimmer of hope at the end but it was too little to late as the valiant United 58 defence held on for the win as the Wanderers loss has seen several teams challenging for the Premiership now.
The opening stages of the game were tightly contested but as both sides began to find their footing in the game it was United 58 who slowly seized control.
Aidan Milicevic had the first real chance of the game after he cut in on his left and tried to pick out the bottom corner from just outside the box, but his chance was calmly defused by the in-form Taiga Harper.
The chances kept coming for United 58 and this time it was Patrick Antelmi who replicated Milicevic’s chance and forced an even better save out of Harper. An open Liam Hatch jumped onto the follow-up but his chance sailed over the bar
Tempers threatened to boil in the 23rd minute after a nasty collision between Ryley Hollingdale and Bailey Rule saw Stephen Lucas issue his first two cards of the afternoon.
After a tense period of the game, it was the hosts who struck first with Antelmi sensationally beating Harper with a close-range free-kick in the 27th minute.
Western Sydney found itself with a chance to answer back instantaneously as a United 58 corner was quickly defused and re-distributed to an oncoming Marcus Younis.
The pacey winger bolted forward with four of his teammates outnumbering the two remaining men in the United 58 defensive line, however a late pass from Younis and a mishandled cross from Nathanael Blair saw the chance come to an unceremonious end.
The Wanderers were made to pay moments later after a sloppy pass in the middle of the park was intercepted by Shunta Nakamura, as he played the ball through to Antelmi who calmly took slotted his chance to double his side’s lead.
With Western Sydney reeling from Antelmi’s brace, Alex Badolato attempted to get his side back in the contest, but his threatening long-range strike was easy pickings for Oliver Kalac.
In what was a relatively dominant half for the hosts, they went into the halftime break with a two-goal lead and all of the momentum.
Both sides went blow for blow to start the second half, with Badolato’s close-range volley just going wide of the target whilst Nakamura forced a brilliant save out of Harper on the other end.
Harper was continually called into action by the United 58 attack throughout the early stages of the second half, but two impressive saves denied both Antelmi and Stephen De Robillard from extending the lead to three.
Western Sydney came within inches of firing back after a rifling effort from Hammond saw Kalac tip it onto the crossbar shortly before the chance was defused by a foul in favour of the hosts.
The visitors were made to pay just moments later as Nakamura claimed his second assist of the afternoon, playing De Robillard through on goal where he fired his chance into the roof of the net.
Andrew Christiansen was quick to react and brought Bugarija into the contest off the bench, a change that turned the course of the match.
The substitute found the back of the net with what was seemingly his first touch after a brilliant setup from Hammond cutting in on the left, leaving Bugarija with a near-open target.
Bugarija came agonisingly close to a quick brace as his goal-bound half-volley clipped the top of the bar.
With Western Sydney starting to gather some crucial momentum, United 58 was dealt a massive blow as Adrian Vlastelica was shown a straight red card for a last man challenge on Younis.
With United 58 being reduced to ten men it was Kalac who stepped up in a big way, making two massive saves in the dying minutes of the game to keep the Wanderers at bay for the time being.
The Wanderers turned up the intensity in the final moments of the game, with Bugarija’s sensational effort giving the visitors a second goal and with two minutes to play the result was certainly up grabs.
The last chance of the game fell to Hammond who sent his effort into the side netting, much to the relief of the United 58 defence.
Speaking after his side’s victory, United 58 coach Zeljko Kalac didn’t hide his pride and joy in the performance.
“Fantastic performance, especially in the first half we turned it into an NPL match with really good football,” he said.
“Second half we dropped off with the red card, we were defending for our lives at the end but that’s apart of football, I’m really proud of this team, this group of players, their effort every week is getting better and better.
“To see the crowd come back and support a team like this, it’s fantastic.”
Meanwhile, Wanderers coach Andrew Christiansen saw the positives in what was a spirited showing from his side.
“Good performance, bad result, it’s obviously two losses in a row which we never want and we’re top of the table, we want to stay up there so I’m disappointed with that,” he said.
“Pleased with the performance overall, we probably lost that game rather than them winning it, a few mistakes from us cost us but that’s why these boys are Wanderers Academy, they’re going to learn from the mistakes and build from it.
“It’s a hostile environment and it’s a new experience for a lot of those boys, I thought they dealt with it tremendously.”
Match Stats
Sydney United 58 FC 3 (Antelmi 27’, 33’, De Robillard 63’)
Western Sydney Wanderers FC 2 (Bugarija 68’, 90+2’)
Sunday May 5th, 2024
Sydney United Sports Centre
Referee: Stephen Lucas
Assistant Referees: Patrick Teleki and Arinath Gobinath
Fourth Official: Liam Smith
Sydney United 58 FC: 1. Oliver Kalac, 3. Bailey Rule, 4. Adrian Vlastelica, 5. Anthony Tomelic, 8. Shunta Nakamura, 9. Patrick Antelmi (13. Alessandro Lacalandra 75’), 10. Carlos De Oliveira, 11. Matthew Hatch (7. Jordan Ivancic 84’), 14. Liam McGing, 15. Tariq Maia (21. Dejan Bakrdanikoski 75’) 19. Aidan Milicevic (22. Stephen De Robillard 45’)
Substitutes Not Used: 2. Cristian Gonzalez, 17. Mathew Nikolovski,
Yellow Cards: Rule 23’, O. Kalac 79’, De Oliveira 80’, Z. Kalac 90+2’
Red Cards: Vlastelica 71’
Western Sydney Wanderers FC: 1. Taiga Harper, 4. Doni Grdic, 6. Dylan Scicluna, 7. Marcus Younis, 9. Nathanael Blair, 10. Alexander Badolato, 13. Aydan Hammond, 14. Zachary Sapsford, 16. Roman Culin (3. Anthony Pantazopoulos 65’) 22. Jesse Cameron (11. Adam Bugarija 65’), 25. Ryley Hollingdale
Substitutes not used: 20. Lucas Sinnott, 23. Marcus Fernandez, 77. Phillip Gigliotti, 99. Ryan Devine
Yellow Cards: Hammond 23’, Culina 25’, Grdic 86’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 – Patrick Antelmi (SU)
2 – Shunta Nakamura (SU)
1 – Adam Bugarija (WSW)
-By Dom Criniti
