Western Sydney Wanderers were able to earn their first win of the season against a ragged looking Perth Glory side thanks to a first-half goal from Dario Vidosic.
In his first start for the Wanderers, Vidosic was the star man on the night and scored a crucial goal just before the break to give his new side the advantage.
The first-half was very dull to say the least, with Perth failing to with stain any real possession and the Wanderers looking content to play the ball around the back. Most of the dangerous looking attacks from both teams came from crosses into the area.
The latter stages had a similar feel with the rain starting to come down in Sydney. Perth struggled to get any sort of momentum going forward as the Wanderers closed out the game well.
Formations
The Wanderers had the luxury of being able to name a relatively unchanged XI with the only difference from last weekend being Vidosic, who made his first start for the club coming in for the injured Castelen. It was also a very warm return to the bench for Brendon Santalab after his injury problems.
With Diego Castro, Gyorgy Sandor, Chris Harold and Mitchell Oxborrow all ruled-out for Perth they were forced into a handful of changes. Hagi Gligor made his first start for the club and Warren played in a slightly more advanced role, while new signings Jamal Reiners and Aryn Williams started on the bench.
Vidosic the key man
Vidosic was finally deemed fit enough by Popovic to earn his first start this season and he proved to be the difference against the Glory.
He was involved in nearly all of the attacks for theWanderers and managed to get himself on the score sheet just before halftime with a superb strike from the edge of the area following some sloppy defence from the visitors.
The Croatian-born attacker played predominantly as a right-winger, but did find himself drifting inside and picking up the ball in space between the Glory midfield and back four. Nichols noticed this and was then able to feed-off Vidosic as he made a number of runs down the right channel which he created by drawing Golec inside.
Vidosic was a little quieter in the second-half, especially after Bridge came on as the team tended to look for the fresh legs, but he still put in a great shift.
Perth lack of urgency
The Glory struggled to get into the game and looked to be lacking the urgency needed to get anything from the match.
Whether it was their recent schedule or their injury list coming into the game, nevertheless they were a disjointed side. Without Sandor and Castro pulling the strings in midfield they lacked conviction going forward, which made it nearly impossible for Sidnei and second half substitute Guyon Fernandez to get into the game.
Sidnei looked as though he was playing as almost a fake No.9 in the first 45 minutes as he continued to drop deep to try and have an influence on the game to no effect. The Glory were forced to sit very deep and allowed the Wanderers time and space on the ball in almost all areas on the pitch.
Lack of creativity going forward meant that their best chances of the game came from getting the ball out wide and crossing it in or from the dead ball.
Wanderers Closed out the game
Western Sydney have been guilty of giving away cheap goals in the dying minutes over the past season but held firm for 90 minutes to come away with the points.
Nikolai Topor-Stanley was instrumental at the back as he kept his side very well structured and disciplined. Dimas Delgado and Andreu both look to be settling into the A League well and held shape, if one was going forward the other would sit in the hole, which stopped Perth from getting any momentum going forward on the counter-attack.
The Wanderers were not pressing the Perth back four but picked out weaknesses in the midfield and pounced quickly on any errors that were forced upon Glory. They limited the time and space on the ball for the opposition midfielders, who struggled to get into the game.
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Western Sydney Wanderers Conclusion
After a shaky start to the season the Wanderers finally picked up their first win. It was a convincing result in the end despite the 1-0 score line as they managed to keep Perth from creating any real chances. They have shown glimpses of their potential in recent weeks but managed to put together a strong 90 minute performance to close out a match over a poor Glory side.
If Vidosic can continue playing well and gain some consistency about his performances, Western Sydney may yet have something to say about the title race. He was influential going forward in the absence of Castelen and it looked as though his team mates were feeding off his confidence.
Perth Glory Conclusion
A very poor showing from the Glory who look will need to regroup quickly if they are to stand a chance in the FFA Cup final next weekend.
With influential members of the squad missing it was a chance for the fringe players such as Gligor and Sidnei to an extent to step and and show their worth, but in the end nothing went right for Perth. A sloppy mistake at the back cost them the goal and they were very wasteful with their possession, gifting the ball back to the Wanderers on numerous occasions. This needs to be addressed by Lowe and the coaching staff or it will continue to cost them points.
With only the single win from their opening four matches, Perth will need to sharpen up quickly or they will fall of the pace.
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