Melbourne Victory was edged 2-1 by the Western Sydney Wanderers in the Hyundai A-League on Friday.
Summary
A pair of efforts from distance from Keanu Baccus and Alexander Meier put Western Sydney in control to begin the second half at Marvel Stadium.
Ola Toivonen pulled a goal back from the penalty spot and Victory pushed late, but it was unable to find an equaliser in an electric second half.
Victory made a dominant start as it pushed the Wanderers back in the opening 10 minutes.
The host almost found an opener, but Wanderers goalkeeper Daniel Lopar pushed away Andrew Nabbout’s deflected cross from the right.
Western Sydney went close midway through the first half, Matthew Jurman’s header from a Pirmin Schwegler cross hitting the post.
Victory threatened again just after the half-hour mark, Elvis Kamsoba denied by Lopar down low after a Kristijan Dobras pass.
At the other end, Wanderers striker Meier headed wide just before half-time.
Western Sydney opened the scoring in the 54th minute, Baccus curling a tremendous effort into the top corner from 25 yards after a Mo Adam cutback.
The Wanderers doubled their lead eight minutes later through Meier, who struck from distance after Victory goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas was left stranded having made a save in a one-on-one.
The visitor continued to enjoy some good moments, with Schwegler curling a free-kick wide in the 68th minute.
Victory pulled a goal back in the 72nd minute as Toivonen converted from the penalty spot after a handball by Dylan McGowan from a Kenny Athiu header, but the Wanderers held on.
Player in focus
Key moment
What they said – Nabbout
on half-time message…
“We needed to take a few more risks up top, there were a lot of runs being made, similar to last week we weren’t crossing the ball enough and some runs weren’t being rewarded. It is what it is. Stupid mistakes cost us and we’ve just got to pick up and move onto next week.”
on attacking play…
“It’s a collective thing. We need to switch the ball a little bit quicker and just put teams on the back foot. We’ve got pace up front, we utilised it at times but I think we’ve just got to use it more and try and link up with the big man up top.”
Result
Hyundai A-League 2019/20 Round 2
Melbourne Victory 1 (Ola Toivonen 72′ pen)
Western Sydney Wanderers 2 (Keanu Baccus 54′, Alexander Meier 62′)
Melbourne Victory: Thomas (gk); Roux, Donachie, Deng, Brown; Poulsen (Basha 62′), Broxham; Nabbout, Dobras (Athiu 62′), Kamsoba; Toivonen (c).
Western Sydney Wanderers: Lopar (gk); Georgievski, McGowan, Jurman, Wilmering; Schwegler; Adam (Yeboah 73′), Baccus, Sullivan, Duke (c); Meier.
Yellow cards: Broxham 21′, Sullivan 31′, Adam 49′, Donachie 67′, Athiu 90+2′
Red cards: Nil
Attendance: TBA
Venue: Marvel Stadium
Next up
Victory makes the trip to Suncorp Stadium to face Brisbane Roar on Friday, October 25.
