Wanderers put seven goals past APIA Leichhardt

The Western Sydney Wanderers continued their good pre-season form in the NPL with their third win in four matches as they defeated APIA Leichhardt 7-1 at Lambert Park on Sunday.

Returning to close to full-strength following Thursday’s loss to Macarthur Rams with a predominantly U20s team, the match started in the worst possible fashion as APIA went 1-0 up in the first minute.
 
Following a slip by a Wanderers defender, an APIA forward capitalised on the error by winning the ball and opening the scoring.
 
But from that moment on, it was all Wanderers and fifteen minutes into the contest the Red & Black had fought back to take the lead.
 
It started with nice inter-play around the box that saw Kyle Cimenti get behind the defensive line to equalise before Alusine Fofanah grabbed the next one only three minutes later with a rocket finish.
 
Tariq Maia hit the post not long after before Lachlan Scott extended the lead before half time after his namesake Lachlan Roberts burst into the box before delivering it to Scott to finish.
 
The second half began with a burst as the Wanderers scored three goals in the opening ten minutes to put the match beyond reach for APIA Leichhardt.
 
Three minutes in and Fofanah fed Scott with a brilliant pass for the centre forward to slide the ball under the keeper for his second goal of the match.
 
Two minutes later and Mathieu Cordier scored probably the goal of the match as he hit the ball from the edge of the area before Kyle Cimenti got his second of the match as he connected with Brenton Fox’s cross.
 
The next twenty minutes saw a number of chances, all but one to the Wanderers before Cimenti won a penalty and scored it himself to earn his hat-trick.
 
Next up for Wanderers is Sydney United 58 on Sunday 21 February. Kick-off is 6:30pm at Sydney United Sports Centre.
 
APIA Leichhardt 1
Western Sydney Wanderers 7 (Kyle Cimenti 11’ 55’ 76’ Alusine Fofanah, 14’ Lachlan Scott 34’ 43’ Mathieu Cordier 45’)
Note that halves were reduced to 40 minutes due to heat
 
First half XI : Suman, Roberts, Fotakopoulos, D’Cunha, Cordier, Baccus, Devlin, Maia, Cimenti, Fofanah, Scott
 
Second half XI : Suman, Roberts, Davies, D’Cunha, Cordier (Fox), Gaspari, Devlin, Maia (Kumsuz), Cimenti, Fofanah, Scott (Russell)
 
U20s : APIA Leichhardt 0-7 Western Sydney Wanderers