A-League men’s round 6: Kuol’s first club goal gives Wanderers derby win over Sydney FC
Alou Kuol broke his Western Sydney Wanderers duck - and was injured celebrating with the Red and Black Bloc - as they withstood a desperate Sydney FC to claim abig derby win.
Is this the win that jump-starts Western Sydney’s season?
After sputtering through the opening stages of the A-League men’s competition, Alen Stajcic’s men made a huge statement on Saturday night by upsetting ladder-leaders Sydney FC 1-0 in an epic derby at CommBank Stadium.
Having won their previous four games, the high-flying Sky Blues came into this match as overwhelming favourites, but they were taken down a peg by their noisy neighbours, who defied their lowly ladder position to chalk up a second straight win and their first derby victory since November 2023.
Striker Alou Kuol would provide the breakthrough, scoring the decisive goal in the 51st minute after seizing upon an errant header from Sydney defender Marcel Tisserand. Unfortunately, the former Mariner was forced to withdraw injured immediately after his strike.
It was a well-deserved win for the Wanderers, who outmuscled their more illustrious opponents with a physical brand of football that extended to both attack and defence. This was best exemplified by fiery defender Anthony Pantazopoulos, who harangued Sydney stars Joe Lolley and Al Hassan Toure out of the match, all while bombarding Harrison Devenish-Meares’ goal with a couple of cracking attacking movements.
Wanderers keeper Lawrence Thomas was likewise a colossus between the sticks, making a last-ditch save in the closing seconds to maintain the 50th clean sheet of his career.
The home side were on song from the opening whistle and were unlucky to go into half-time level at nil-all. Veteran midfielder Steven Ugarkovic came agonisingly close to opening the scoring in the 29th minute when his shot skimmed over the bar, while striker Kosta Barbarouses’ rocket hit the woodwork five minutes later.
Things would open up during the second stanza. After Kuol scored in front of a delirious Red and Black Bloc, Sydney seemed to click into gear, throwing men forward as they attempted to score an equaliser. Lolley suddenly came to life and looked to have won his side a penalty after his shot appeared to make contact with Pantazopoulos’ arm in the penalty box. However, after a VAR review, the decision (and the end result) went with the Wanderers.
TOURE’S TOUGH NIGHT
After a superb month of football, recent Socceroos debutant Al Hassan Toure had a night to forget in Parramatta.
After being virtually shut out of the game by the Wanderers’ defence, the former Adelaide man was substituted in the 53rd minute, and it’s fair to say he wasn’t happy.
Paramount+ sideline eye Daniel Garb reported that Toure threw his strapping tape and bib to the ground in disgust as he approached the bench.
PANTA’S PERFECT PERFORMANCE
After declaring that the Sydney Derby was akin to war earlier in the week, it was imperative that Pantazopoulos have a big game against the Sky Blues, and he did just that. It was arguably his best performance in a Wanderers shirt.
City, Mariners, locked in stalemate
MarinersVeteran goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne showed he still has plenty to offer on Saturday afternoon, putting in a player-of-the-match performance in the Central Coast’s nil-all draw with Melbourne City.
Cut loose by Sydney FC during the off-season, Redmayne, 36, shone for Mariners at a steamy Polytec Stadium, continually denying a City side riding high after a 2-0 win over Johor Darul Ta’zim F.C. in the Asian Champions League last Tuesday.
Aurelio Vidmar’s team dominated in attack, making 16 shots to the Mariners’ two across the 90 minutes, but they simply couldn’t beat the man affectionately known as the ‘Grey Wiggle’, who registered the 69th clean sheet of his A-League career.
“I’m not really sure what to make of that game,” Redmayne told Paramount+ post-match.
“Coming up against Melbourne City, I think as a goalkeeper, you’re always going to be kept a bit busy.
“I thought we (the Mariners) could have snatched three points at the end there, but a point is probably a fair result.”
The first half was a dull affair, with scoring opportunities few and far between. City forward Takeshi Kanamori was twice denied by diving efforts from Redmayne, while Mariners winger Sabit Ngor was ruled offside after finding the net in the 41st minute.
City looked livelier in the second half and began to apply the blowtorch to their opponents. However, as he did in the opening term, Redmayne continued to frustrate the defending champions. His acrobatic block of a Medin Memeti shot midway through the second term was particularly impressive.
Andrew Nabbout thought he’d clinched victory for the visitors when his volley beat Redmayne in the final minute of regulation time; however, like Ngor before him, he was ruled offside.
The result means City occupy fifth spot on the A-League men’s ladder and remain winless on the Central Coast since January 2023. Meanwhile, the Mariners sit seventh, on the same number of competition points as sixth-placed Wellington.
Phoenix holds off Adelaide Utd
by Val Migliaccio
Adelaide United can thank its Dutch keeper, Josh Smits, for coming away with just a 2-1 loss to Wellington Phoenix at Sky Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The 33-year-old was clearly Adelaide’s best on ground in a shock defeat, making at least four world-class saves after Wellington peppered the - at times - listless away side.
Adelaide conceding a very cheap goal after Wellington dominated the opening stanza compounded the Reds’ miseries in their third away loss of the season.
Phoenix skipper Alex Rufer made an unchecked run from the edge of the penalty box after an in-swinging Kazuki Nagasawa corner to volley the ball home unchallenged from 6m in the 13th minute.
Phoenix deserved the lead after Smits was forced into action, saving a goal-bound effort from Daniel Edwards and Manjrekar James.
“We got it wrong, and too many times we were probably a bit sloppy,’’ Adelaide captain Craig Goodwin told Paramount Plus.
“We didn’t execute when we had the time to do it; that’s the most disappointing thing.
“I don’t think we lost this game because we were the worst team; I think we lost it because we couldn’t string passes together.
“We go now to the next match at home (v Brisbane Roar on December 7), and we get back on track.”
Wellington’s Ramy Najjarine made it 2-0 seven minutes after the break from 12 yards after the home side bombarded the Reds’ goalmouth in a frantic restart.
Adelaide’s Yaya Dukuly looked to have won a spot kick after he went down after clashing with Lukas Kelly-Heald inside the box before the hour.
However, referee Daniel Elder changed his mind after looking at VAR before issuing Dukuly a yellow card for simulation.
Fabian Talladira watched in agony as his close-range effort sailed close to the line with no takers for an easy Adelaide tap-in in the 69th minute.
Joey Garuccio, 19, then pegged back the deficit with Adelaide’s first shot on target and his first touch in the 74th minute – less than a minute after entering the fray off the bench.
Adelaide looked sharper in attack after coach Airton Andrioli unloaded Garuccio, Austin Ayoubi and Ryan White off the bench.
CHOKEHOLD
Phoenix’s relentless first-half pressing game forced Adelaide into playing direct football.
Adelaide was strangely impotent without firing a shot at goal in anger for the first 34 minutes when Dukuly became the first Red to have a touch inside the Phoenix penalty area.
The resultant corner was easily dealt with after Andrioli tweaked his formation, switching Goodwin onto the right-wing back position briefly for Panashe Madanha.
Goodwin fired another corner four minutes before Luke Jovanovic unleashed Adelaide’s first shot of the game in the 40th minute.
Former Adelaide winger Carlo Armiento was one of Phoenix’s best in a worrying first half for the visitors.
Armiento’s 20m top corner-bound effort was thwarted by a brilliant save from Smits just seconds after the break.
Armiento won a penalty just minutes later when fouled by Bart Vriends.
Armiento forced Smits into another first-class save in the 70th minute from a set piece.
NEW LINEUP
Adelaide made four changes to the starting 11 after belting Melbourne City 4- at home nine days ago.
The 11 boasted eight under-23 players.
Goodwin returned to the starting line-up after he was left out of the squad after returning from international duty in the US.
Madanha slotted into the right back role from the start at the expense of Dylan Pierias, who was suspended after being sent off against City.
Ryan Kitto and Spaniard Juan Muniz were also forced out of last week’s winning squad with illness before Garuccio made his debut off the bench in the 73rd minute.
AWAY AGONY
Adelaide’s last away win was recorded in January when it ironically beat the Phoenix 2-1 at the same stadium.
It’s a statistic which could have led to the eventual demise of affable former coach Carl Veart.
Roar shock the Victory
by Marco Monteverde
Brisbane Roar have heaped further pressure on Victory coach Arthur Diles with a 1-0 win over the Melbourne outfit at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night.
A third-minute goal from midfielder Sam Klein was enough for the Roar to maintain their unbeaten home record and condemn the Victory to a third successive loss.
The Victory haven’t scored in any of those defeats, with their lack of strike power again evident for all to see in Brisbane in yet another inept display despite the return, off the bench, of Socceroos attacker Nishhan Velupillay.
He and Spanish star Juan Mata, who was dropped from the starting line-up following last Saturday’s 3-0 loss to Sydney FC, both entered the contest in the 72nd minute.
Sam if you could be so inKLEINed! 😱@BrisbaneRoar take just three minutes to open the scoring at Suncorp through Sam Klein's first goal of the season.#BRIvMVC is LIVE on Paramount+ pic.twitter.com/pAgb5cxhON
— Paramount+ Australia (@ParamountPlusAU) November 28, 2025
However, the changes failed to turn the game in the visitors’ favours, with the Roar’s no-frills and fighting style again bringing them success and adding to already significant pressure on Diles to keep his job.
Rubbing further salt into the Victory’s wounds was the stoppage-time sending off of midfielder Denis Genreau for what seemed to be a stomp on Roar substitute Henry Hore.
It led to a post-match melee involving players from both teams, with the Victory’s frustrations obvious.
Victory defender Jason Davidson admitted he and his teammates were “very frustrated”.
“We’ve got to stay together … and find a way to get this monkey off our back,” Davidson told Paramount Plus.
“It’s not the start to the season that we wanted, and the people that can change that is us, the players.”
Klein’s goal came after the Victory failed to deal with a low cross from attacker Michael Ruhs, who was making his 100th A-League appearance.
HUGE DRAMA at Suncorp! 💥ðŸŽ@gomvfc see red in injury-time with Denis Genreau punished for a kick-out.
— Paramount+ Australia (@ParamountPlusAU) November 28, 2025
The Navy Blue find their fourth defeat of the season, going down 1-0 to @brisbaneroar 🟥
Catch the #BRIvMVC post-match chat on Paramount+ pic.twitter.com/HnvkDPD20U
The cross eventually found Ruhs’ fellow forward Justin Vidic, who laid the ball back into the path of Klein, who produced a first-clash finish.
Roar goalkeeper Dean Bouzanis ensured his side kept the lead in the 23rd minute with a fine save to deny Jing Reec, who should. have scored.
The Brisbane gloveman again came to Brisbane’s rescue in the 58th minute when he parried a deflected strike from Victory substitute Clarismario Santos to safety.
Ruhs said the Roar had a “special group” of players.
“It all started in pre-season. We knew from day dot that this is the football we were going to play, these were the conditions we were going to play in and how we were going to win games was just by running all over teams and that’s what we’re doing,” Brisbane’s milestone man said.
Originally published as A-League men’s round 6: Kuol’s first club goal gives Wanderers derby win over Sydney FC
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