Second half goals sees Blacktown City bounce Wanderers
A patient Blacktown City surged past Western Sydney Wanderers with a second-half goal glut at Landen Stadium to win 3-0 on Sunday afternoon.
After a dominant first half from Blacktown, a red card 50 minutes in for Western Sydney’s Matthew O’Donoghue soon opened the game up.
Grant Lynch scored first for City before Joey Gibbs and Danny Choi added goals over the remainder of the second half.
Dimo Dimo saw red for the visitors in the dying embers as well.
The hosts took control of the ball in the first five minutes as they sought to utilise Choi down the left.
Blacktown were centimetres away from the opener 11 minutes in. Choi played the ball to the right edge of the box for Mitchell Mallia, who thundered a left-footed effort off the crossbar.
Choi continued to dictate proceedings for City, and a few minutes later, he sprayed a pass out to the right for Mallia. Mallia picked the ball up in the box and drove towards goal, where he took on a strike that flew narrowly over.
Blacktown went forward again in the 25th minute as Travis Major spun well in the box and forced Taiger Harper into a sharp save down to his right.
The side carried on their assault on the Wanderers’ goal as they sent a series of dangerous deliveries into the box.
In the 37th minute, Gibbs picked out Major in the area; the latter rolling a shot onto the right post.
Less than two minutes later, Julian Rodriguez whipped in a left-sided cross that found Major at the far post, but the forward headed onto the woodwork once again.
Despite the plethora of chances going Blacktown’s way, they almost found themselves behind in the 42nd minute.
A giveaway on the edge of their own area presented Western Sydney’s Phillip Gigliotti with a shooting chance. Blacktown goalkeeper Tristan Prendergast scrambled back and prevented the goal.
The Wanderers’ late chance was one of their few forays forward as they withstood a Blacktown barrage for most of the first half.
Regardless, the scores were still level at Landen Stadium as the teams went into the sheds.
Western Sydney’s task was made harder five minutes into the second half, when O’Donoghue took out Mallia who was racing in on goal, seeing the defender sent off.
Blacktown finally broke the Wanderers’ resistance 58 minutes in. Lynch unleashed a dipping volley from the edge of the area that nestled in the top left corner.
City added a second goal eight minutes later. Choi’s curling cross from the left met Gibbs’ head who glanced the ball into the right of the goal.
Gibbs almost had his second a few minutes after his first when he latched onto a ball into the right channel and nudged it onto the right post.
The side had their third goal in the 71st minute. Major laid the ball to Choi on the edge of the box, whose first-time shot beat Harper.
Blacktown weren’t satisfied with three goals and pressed on in pursuit of more.
In the 73rd minute, Martin Fernandez hit a low effort that Harper did well to repel.
The Wanderers’ frustration showed in the 90th minute when Dimo Dimo received the side’s second straight red card of the match.
Blacktown played out the final minutes to secure a well-earned three points at home.
Blacktown had gone into halftime without scoring despite peppering the Wanderers’ goal.
Coach Mark Crittenden said the team at halftime emphasised the importance of maintaining their way of playing, with a belief the goal would come.
“We probably created enough chances to be leading by halftime but that means our execution was not quite good enough,” Crittenden said.
“We spoke about at halftime that if we just stuck to the process that we could get ourselves in front and eventually we did.
“They [Western Sydney] had the send off which probably changed the momentum a little bit. But they fought hard for young boys so well done to them.”
Crittenden also said that he was excited at the prospect of Danny Choi getting back to his old self as the former A-Leagues player begins to find form after his serious knee injury.
“He’s getting closer to the Danny Choi of old. Obviously coming back through the injury process, it’s always hard to come back from an ACL,” Crittenden said.
“I think in the last three weeks in particular Danny has improved every week and is getting better.
“He can turn a game on its head so we’re pretty excited heading into the back end of the season that Danny Choi is finding his form.”
Match Stats
Blacktown City FC 3 (Grant Lynch 58’, Joey Gibbs 69’, Danny Choi 71’)
Western Sydney Wanderers FC 0
Sunday 28 July 2024
Landen Stadium, Seven Hills
Referee: Jake Rose
Assistant Referees: Aaron Bloch and Owen Medcalf
Fourth Official: Matt Staples
Blacktown City FC: 1. Tristan Prendergast, 5. Grant Lynch, 7. Travis Major, 11. Danny Choi, 12. Tyren Burnie (41. Daniel McHugh 82’), 14. Mitchell Mallia, 18. Nicholas O’Brien (4. Lachlan Campbell 73’), 19. Julian Rodriguez (17. Martin Fernandez 55’), 22. Jacob Maniti (36. Sebastian Hayward 82’), 23. Joey Gibbs (9. Reuben Awaritefe 73’), 24. Jackson Bandiera
Substitutes Not Used: 20. Cayden Henderson
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
Western Sydney Wanderers FC: 1. Taiga Harper, 3. Matthew O’Donoghue, 4. Meliwethu Nkomo (12. Lachlan Tilt 79’), 14. Luke Knezevic (19. Dimo Dimo 62’), 16. Roman Culina, 23. Marcus Fernandez, 28. Luke Nieuwenhof (99. Ryan Devine 56’), 35. Kaan Nizam (24. Antony Barbic 56’), 36. Dallo Sandy (47. Edmun Haddad 79’), 37. Ricky Fransen, 77. Phillip Gigliotti
Substitutes Not Used: 20. Tristan Vidackovic
Yellow Cards: Roman Culina 87’
Red Cards: Matthew O’Donoghue 50’, Dimo Dimo 90’
Player Ratings:
3 – Danny Choi (BC)
2 – Grant Lynch (BC)
1 – Mitchell Mallia (BC)
Report by Tim Gibson