Luck has yet again deserted the Wanderers after they fell 2-0 to the Newcastle Jets at McDonald Jones Stadium tonight.
Western Sydney got off to a strong start with Duke blasting over the bar on two minutes before Yeboah produced some lovely footwork in the box to fire off a shot from close range that was blocked by the Jets defence.
Lopar came to the rescue on 18 minutes when he made a superb one on one save with Jason Hoffman bearing down on him.
Duke was causing problems for the home defence and he almost opened the scoring on 25 minutes only to head over the bar after a pinpoint cross from the right from Bruce Kamau.
The Red & Black then had to defend resolutely as the home side upped the pressure. Baccus and Daniel Wilmering were handed yellow cards within two minutes of each other in the process.
The Red & Black did well to go into the break 0-0 at half time thanks to a brilliant performance from goalkeeper Daniel Lopar, who made a string of superb saves in the first 45 minutes.
It was a different Wanderers side in the second 45 minutes as they poured the pressure on the Jets and kept them camped inside their own half for long periods.
However, the game turned dramatically on 55 minutes when they had a clear call for a penalty denied after Kwame Yeboah had been brought down in the box.
Referee Kurt Ams waved play on. But, VAR looked at the incident and Ams subsequently halted play to look at the replay. After a short look, he signaled all clear.
The decision came back to haunt the Wanderers as the Jets scored 23 minutes later before adding a second four minutes from full-time to hand the visitors a heart-breaking defeat.
Still, the Red & Black finished the half strongly when Yeboah produced a wonderful piece of football in tracking back deep inside his own half to win the ball then send Daniel Georgievski away.
Georgievski then found Duke with a lovely pass for the Wanderers skipper to send a thunderbolt shot from 25 metres that was heading into the top right-hand corner of the net before the Jets ‘keeper pulled off a remarkable save.
The Wanderers will now turn their attention to Wellington Phoenix who they will take on in Round 8 at Eden Park in the Hyundai A-League.
