Western Sydney Wanderers has booked its place in the grand final after one of the best matches played in the A-League, defeating Brisbane Roar 5-4 after extra time.
Extra time seemed like an impossibility in the opening half of the first stanza with the visitors finding themselves ahead 3-0.
Dimitri Petratos opened the scoring via the penalty spot in the 15th minute after Andreu handballed in the box. The Spanish defender’s night went from bad to worse when he scored an own goal only five minutes later.
Jamie Maclaren added the Roar’s third in the 23rd minute placing his shot beautfully over an outstretched Andrew Redmayne following a Brandon Borrello cut back.
Romeo Castelen began the Wanderers’ revival with a stunningly taken free kick in the 26th minute. Brendon Santalab then scored his fifth in three games to get Western Sydney back within a goal.
The second half saw another three goals scored. Castelen scored his second after Young denied both Mitch Nichols and Mark Bridge but couldn’t stop the Dutchman, and his third with a strike just on the edge of the box.
Maclaren grabbed his second to level the match at 4-4. The striker was all alone at the far post top tap in Henrique’s scuffed cross.
It took extra time and Dario Vidosic’s introduction to separate the sides and ultimately decide the match. The Wanderers’ marquee man finished from close range after a beautifully worked team goal.
Super Dario! 5-4! #WSWvBRI #ALFinals pic.twitter.com/5WSlZiICSU
— Evan Morgan Grahame (@WWofSport) April 24, 2016
The Wanderers will travel to Adelaide Oval to take on the Reds next Sunday afternoon.
Csatelen finds his range when it counts
Romeo Castelen’s inability to find the back of the net was almost comical this season. The Dutchman found himself in brilliant positions regularly but was never able to produce that final touch. He featured in 26 matches this season, starting 18 of them, but was only able to produce four goals.
Fast forward to the semi final and Wanderers’ number seven managed to find his range, hitting the back of the net three times. He becomes the second Wanderers to score a hat trick, behind Mark Bridge and was pivotal in getting his side into its third grand final.
A game for the ages
Not even the most imaginative, fanciful mind could have conjured up what we witnessed this evening. The Roar looked to be comfortably heading towards yet another grand final at 3-0 up but the Wanderers were able to turn that around and take the lead.
It took a second remarkable come back, this time from the Roar, to ensure the match went to extra time. Even at 5-4 down, with only the second half of extra time to play, the suggestion that either side could still win this game was by no means a ridiculous one.
It is hard to picture that next week’s grand final could possibly match the drama which was produced at Pirtek Stadium, but as proved tonight, anything is possible in this finals series.
Top two dominance continues
By booking a ticket to the grand final, the Wanderers ensure that the top two teams in the regular season also feature in the final game of the season for the ninth time in the A-League’s 11-year history. Both these sides have found themselves in this position before and have both suffered the heart break of grand final defeat twice.
However, for one of these teams, they will finally be able to taste victory in a grand final and the league will have itself a new champion.
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