The NRMA Insurance Western Sydney Wanderers have tonight defeated Parramatta FC 1-0 in front of 1,063 fans at Parramatta Stadium.
The NRMA Insurance Western Sydney Wanderers have tonight defeated Parramatta FC 1-0 in front of 1,063 fans at Parramatta Stadium.
Coach Tony Popovic was impressed with the victory but happy to be continuing to get vital match practice.
“It was another 90 minutes under our belts,” he said. “It was the first hit-out for a number of guys so that is also a good thing.
“We brought up a number of youth players tonight and they handled it well.
“We want the same sort of structure to be played throughout the club so it-s great experience for these guys to have in this arena.”
Popovic decided to rest Mark Bridge, Shannon Cole, Aaron Mooy and Nikolai Topor-Stanley from the fixture which he said is all part of his pre-season plan.
“It-s about getting guys right for October 6. There are no concerns with them, it-s purely a strategic thing,” he added.
In a first half where the Wanderers maintained the best field position, it was one where they were unable to break the defence of the Parramatta side.
It was after 10 minutes where Croatian Dino Kresinger had the first real opportunity. The ball was put in at the top of the penalty box with Kresinger controlling the ball nicely bringing it down on his chest and after a single touch to his left he struck the ball with a fair amount of force but it was sent just wide of the left upright.
In the 18th minute Mateo Poljak had his first opportunity in Wanderers colours when he carried the ball forward and with no defenders closing him down, he chose to have a strike, which like Kresinger’s attempt, sailed wide of the left upright.
The first booking of the match came in the 20th minute with fellow import Jerome Polenz the recipient. After Parramatta turned over possession and headed for the left flank, Polenz came in late and caught the heel of the Parramatta front man.
Trialist Youssef Hersi had the best chance of the first stanza after Kresinger put on a nice touch which ended with Hersi in open space on the right but the midfielder from the Netherlands pushed it across the face of goal with Parramatta Goal Keeper Matthew Nash outstretched.
Just moments before the half-time whistle Parramatta received a free-kick on the right hand side, 30m out from goal. After the cross kick was sent in, the Wanderers were able to clear but Parramatta defender Akiyoshi Saito hit the ball firmly with his left boot and after a slight deflection it sailed past Wanderers Goal Keeper Jerrad Tyson into the back of the net. After a consultation between the referee and linesman it was called offside and the score remained at 0-0 as both side-s then entered the rooms as the half-time whistle sounded.
A number of changes were made at half-time with Michael Beauchamp, Kwabena Appiah-Hubi and Poljak all coming off with Jason Trifiro, Labinot Haliti, Jake McGing and Nicholas Olsen coming on for their first minutes.
The opening goal of the match came through Kresinger, who opened his goal scoring account in the 60th minute. It was off the back of some poor defence from Parramatta where they were unable to clear the ball and Kresinger got his boot to the loose ball and chipped it over the top of Nash to put the Wanderers in front.
The remainder of the match was played from end to end with a number of changes being made by both Coaches.
As the full-time whistle was blown the Wanderers were relieved to have added another victory to their pre-season list with three more matches before the season proper.
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