Wanderers bounce back to winning ways in A-League with victory over Mariners

If proponents of promotion and relegation in the A-League need a video to push their cause, a recording of the 90 minutes featuring the Wanderers and Mariners at Spotless Stadium would go a long way.

The Wanderers enjoy finding that winning feeling again.

If proponents of promotion and relegation in the A-League need a video to push their cause, a recording of this 90 minutes at Spotless Stadium would go a long way.

For the record it was Western Sydney who edged the battle of ninth and tenth, beating the Mariners 2-0 thanks to a goal of enormous fortune for Tarek Elrich and a rather more convincing one from Jaushua Sotirio.

But as meaningless contests go it would be hard to beat.

The Wanderers enjoy finding that winning feeling again.

On another day, in another league where teams are punished for so many losses by demotion, this could have been a tension-infused, captivating six-pointer.

In the late-summer sunshine, at the venue dubbed Soulless by disillusioned fans, it was anything but. With Western Sydney still fragile from a 5-1 mauling last weekend, the mood was diffident at best.

“I’m very happy and proud of my players because this was a very difficult game,” said coach Markus Babbel.

“You could see it during the week and we had many talks with the team.

“We could see the confidence was not there and heads were down. Every day we got into better shape and today they did many things right.”

The win lifts Western Sydney back above Brisbane into eighth place, but with 14 points between them and the top six, there isn’t much left to aim for.

Tate Russell keeps a close eye on the Mariners’ Stephen Mallon.

When it was revealed that the A-League-appointed match commissioner had failed to turn up, it was hard not to feel a touch of envy.

In the final analysis, Western Sydney earned the win on the weight of creating what chances there were, though their opponents remain the competition’s most obliging team.

The Mariners have played remarkably well in patches at times this season, but offered nothing on this occasion.

“Today we didn’t cover ourselves in glory,” admitted coach Mike Mulvey.

“The last few weeks we’ve done extremely well in terms of our performances.

“Maybe the effort of that took its toll, and the heat didn’t help. But you need to turn up, and we didn’t turn up today as we can.”

Brendan Hamill keeps the Mariners attack at bay.

Quite how Wanderers striker Oriol Riera didn’t make the scoresheet was a mystery; first he met Roley Bonevacia’s well-flighted freekick with a powerful header that Ben Kennedy did very well to palm away.

Then Riera was found at the far post by Sotirio’s clever cross, but somehow could only head the ball against the post from almost inside the goal.

The Spaniard’s blushes were spared a moment later though, as Elrich retrieved the half-cleared ball and curled a centre towards the far post. With Kennedy rooted to the goal line, the ball hit the far post and bobbled in, almost apologetically.

That was in first-half stoppage time, and on 77 minutes Western Sydney clinched the contest with a simple but effective goal, Bonevacia advancing with the ball and slipping a smart pass between the defenders into the run of Sotirio. His first-time finish was clinical.

There was time for the fans to give Wanderers goalkeeper Vedran Janjetovic sarcastic applause for a save, in light of recent mistakes, and for Janjetovic unwisely to return it.

A win is a win, though, with the Wanderers able to celebrate one for just the third time this season.

Originally published as Wanderers bounce back to winning ways in A-League with victory over Mariners