The Western Sydney Wanderers NPL 2 team played out a thrilling match on Saturday night, drawing 3-3 with Blacktown Spartans at Blacktown Football Park.
A double from Marley Peterson as well as a goal from Samuel Silvera earned the Wanderers a point from the match, but it wasn’t enough to move the Wanderers up from 10th place on the ladder.
The Red & Black came out of the blocks firing with great efforts from Peterson and Mohamed Adam opening the match.
The Wanderers took the lead within five minutes with Joshua Bartolotto, Adrian Valenti and Silvera combining to set up Peterson with an easy finish.
However, the Spartans managed to equalise on the counter soon after with Alex Boyadjian getting the goal.
The Wanderers were forced to stay alert at the back with goalkeeper Jack Greenwood making a number of good saves, while Mohamed Al Taay was also in the right place at the right time to clear a ball off the line.
Peterson thought he had put the Wanderers back in front but he was denied by a tight offside call.
There were also chances for Silvera and Adam, but Spartans took a 2-1 lead against the run of play in first-half stoppage time when Dau Akol found the back of the net.
The Wanderers weren’t deterred and made a strong start to the second half. Silvera fired a shot wide of the target, but he got his reward in the 52nd minute, finishing expertly after getting on the end of a great through ball from Fabian Monge.
Unfortunately, Spartans then took a 3-2 lead, with Peter Crevani scoring from the edge of the box.
The Red & Black continued pushing and there were chances for Peterson and Al Taay with Nascimben pulling off some excellent saves to keep Spartans in front.
With just under 20 minutes remaining, Peterson made it 3-3 with his second goal of the evening.
A short corner was worked into the box and Peterson took a touch before slamming the ball into the bottom corner.
There was a scare at the back in the final seconds of the match with Solomon Monahan-Vaiika making a vital block to prevent Spartans going back in front.
The result sees the Wanderers first grade team stay in 10th place. In the Academy’s earlier games, both the U18 and U20 teams recorded comfortable victories.
Blacktown Spartans 3 (Alex Boyadjian 10’, Dau Akol 45+1’, Peter Crevani 57’)
Western Sydney Wanderers 3(Marley Peterson 5’ 72’, Samuel Silvera 52’)
Western Sydney Wanderers: Jack Greenwood, Henry Davies, Perry Fotakopoulos, Solomon-Johnn Monahan-Vaiika, Mohamed Al Taay (Noah Pagden 92’), Joshua Bartolotto, Fabian Monge, Adrian Valenti, Mohamed Adam, Samuel Silvera (Rory Jordan 68’), Marley Peterson
Unused substitutes: Daniel Axford, Tacettin Kumsuz, Joshua Gulevski
Other results:
U20: Spartans 0-2 WSW
U18: Spartans 1-7 WSW
U15: WSW 3-2 Mt Druitt
U14: WSW 1-3 Mt Druitt
U13: WSW 0-0 Mt Druitt
