The Western Sydney Wanderers NPL 2 team were held to a 1-1 draw by Rydalmere Lions at Valentine Sportspark on Saturday night.
Mohamed Adam reached a milestone with his 20th goal of the season, however that strike would be cancelled out by Rydalmere forward Malcolm Omar Dixon.
The Red & Black started well and Jarrod Carluccio beat a defender in the area, but he was unable to keep his shot down.
Carluccio was involved again on 14 minutes when he linked with Adam, but Adam’s shot across the face of goal was saved by Rydalmere goalkeeper Harrick Sinpraseuth.
Sinpraseuth would deny the Wanderers again a couple of minutes later, tipping Marley Peterson’s fierce drive over the crossbar.
Wanderers goalkeeper Jack Greenwood was then called into action twice in the space of a few minutes and made two fantastic saves to keep the scores level.
The Red & Black had the chance to go in front on 29 minutes when they were awarded a penalty following a handball in the area.
Adam stepped up, sending the keeper the wrong way to give the Wanderers a 1-0 lead.
The successful spot kick meant Adam set a new goalscoring record for a Wanderers NPL player, his 20 goal tally breaking the previous record of 19 set by Kyle Cimenti in 2016.
Rydalmere responded and Adrian Valenti did well to block a close-range shot from Dixon.
However, Dixon would equalise in the 40th minute with Greenwood left with no chance after a heavy deflection.
Adam was agonisingly close to putting the Wanderers back in front on the stroke of halftime, but his 25 yard strike came back off the underside of the crossbar.
The Wanderers kept the pressure on in the second half and Peterson played a couple of pinpoint passes to find Evan Tsakos and Adam in space, Sinpraseuth saving on both occasions.
Tsakos would have another couple of tries from long range however he wasn’t able to trouble the Rydalmere goal.
Adam continued to look lively up front and midway through the second half, he made space after a neat turn, shooting wide of the target.
Late on, Wanderers U20 midfielder Yousef Sawalha would come on as the Red & Black pushed for a winner and he nearly set up a chance with a dangerous cross into the area, but Sinpraseuth was able to tip the ball to safety.
The result keeps the Wanderers in fourth place. In the earlier games, our U18s and U20s were successful, winning 2-0 and 4-3 respectively.
Rydalmere Lions 1 (Malcolm Omar Dixon 40’)
Western Sydney Wanderers 1 (Mohamed Adam 29’)
Western Sydney Wanderers: Jack Greenwood, Bailey Rule, Mohamed Al Taay, Noah Pagden, Adrian Valenti, Lochlan Constable, Andrea Agamemnonos (c), Marley Peterson, Jarrod Carluccio (Jacob Vasiliou 59’), Evan Tsakos (Yousef Sawalha 79’), Mohamed Adam
Unused substitutes: Elliot Carwardine, Callum Watt, Ali Auglah
Other results:
U20: Rydalmere 3-4 WSW
U18: Rydalmere 0-2 WSW
U16: WSW 3-1 North Shore
U15: WSW 1-0 North Shore
U14: WSW 5-1 North Shore
U13: WSW 2-3 North Shore
