The Western Sydney Wanderers will take on Melbourne Victory in their final game of the 2019/20 Hyundai A-League season.
The Red & Black head into the match after falling short in a manic 5-3 match against Western United which also marked the end of the club’s Finals Series hopes.
The Wanderers were down 3-0 in the 70th minute before staging a comeback in 10 minutes thanks to a cheeky backheel from Tass Mourdoukoutas and a brace from captain Mitchell Duke.
But United hadn’t read the script which ended in the Wanderers favour.
A costly mistake at the back from Mourdoukoutas led to a fourth United goal scored by Max Burgess, and with the lead back in their hands Rudan’s side turned to their inspirational captain Diamanti for one more touch of class.
The Italian’s second chipped goal with just minutes to play wrapped up all three points for United in what was an eight-goal thriller, ending the Wanderers chances for a Finals Series appearance.
With Finals now out of the picture, it’ll now be pride on the line when the Red & Black meet a similarly inconsistent Melbourne Victory side in their final match of the season.
Victory head into the match after recording an emphatic 4-0 win against an out-of-sorts Perth Glory.
Marco Rojas slammed Victory into a 29th-minute lead and, after Andrew Nabbout earned and scored a penalty on the hour mark, the Kiwi forward netted another precision finish on 69 minutes to notch his fourth goal in two games, his sixth strike of the season and his 33rd Hyundai A-League goal for the club.
Elvis Kamsoba came off the bench to mark his 23rd competition appearance with a long-awaited first goal, two minutes into stoppage time, and the Burundi international celebrated with some much-anticipated acrobatics to put an exclamation mark on a stunning performance and result.
The result showed some promising signs for Melbourne Victory who will be bringing this momentum with them to their first match at Wanderland.
.jpg)
The last time these two sides met was in mid-October with the Wanderers snatching all three points in what was a massive result for the club.
With the scores locked at 0-0 at half time, Keanu Baccus produced a special piece of magic to open the scoring in the 54th minute, lashing home a first time shot from about 25 metres to give the Wanderers the lead.
Marquee striker Alex Meier, who has only been in the country for a month and was playing just his second game in the Hyundai A-League, added a second eight minutes later as the Red & Black silenced the home crowd to go two up.
Victory pulled a goal back via a Ola Toivonen penalty on 71 minutes, ensuring a hectic finish to the game.
But, the Wanderers showed great character to hold firm and record their second win from the opening two games of the season.
Western Sydney Wanderers v Melbourne Victory
Wednesday 12 August
Bankwest Stadium, 8:10pm
