With a total of eight changes to the starting line-up, newly crowned Asian Champions Western Sydney Wanderers travelled to New Zealand to take on Wellington Phoenix in Round 5 of the Hyundai A-League.
Despite a number of chances and a penalty save from Ante Covic, the Red & Black fell to a 79th minute winner from Nathan Burns to go down 1-0.
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It wasn’t all bad for the Wanderers. On the contrary, for a line-up that was playing together for the first time and included two debutants the signs were very positive going into the future.
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Nikita Rukavytsya and Seyi Adeleke both made their debuts while Matthew Spiranovic started a match for the first time since the World Cup.
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Youngsters Alusine Fofanah and Jaushua Sotirio also played some rare minutes while Romeo Castelen continued his impressive start to the season.
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In fact it was the front three of Rukavytsya and Romeno, led by Tomi Juric, which showed the most promise for the team – especially in the opening 45 minutes.
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An exciting brand of football was on display with the pace of Rukavytsya and the smarts of Castelen combining with Juric to create a number of openings.
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The second half continued in a similar vein with Spiranovic recipient of the best chance of the match.
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After a scramble in the box the defender stuck a toe out to shoot the ball towards goal only for an impressive Glen Moss save to keep the score even.
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The Wanderers were made to rue their missed opportunities when Nathan Burns scored with barely ten minutes left in the match.
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Troubles looked to have doubled when Adeleke was shoved by a Wellington attacker only for the referee to aware a penalty to the home team!
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Justice was served though when Ante Covic once again saved the dot-shot.
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In the end though a promising display of attacking football was all that the Red & Black could take out of the match as the score remained 1-0 at fulltime.
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Wanderers travel to Perth next week to continue their globe-trotting adventures.