Western Sydney Wanderers striker Brendon Santalab hoping for extended run in side

WANDERERS striker Brendon Santalab is hopeful his dramatic winner against the Mariners can herald a sustained run in Tony Popovic’s starting XI.

WANDERERS striker Brendon Santalab is hopeful his dramatic winner against the Mariners can herald a sustained run in Tony Popovic’s starting XI, having cast off another injury to send his side top of the table.

Santalab’s 88th-minute goal on Saturday to earn a 2-1 win, 16 minutes after he entered the fray from the bench, was his third in nine appearances this season, just one of which has come in the starting XI.

After two substantial shoulder operations in a year, Santalab was hit by a hip flexor injury in pre-season that kept him out of the new campaign until mid-November – and then was unlucky to suffer an impact injury on his hip against Adelaide on New Year’s Day.

But now “feeling better than ever”, Santalab hopes he will be given the role of converting more of the chances Western Sydney have created but too often spurned.

The 33-year-old said he was “in disbelief” that the Wanderers were not well clear by halftime after 45 minutes of dominance at Central Coast Stadium, before Luis Garcia’s second-half introduction sparked a Mariners revival that came within minutes of earning a point.

“We were attacking non-stop in the first half, we made chance after chance, and on another day we could have had a hatful,” Sanatalab said. “Watching from the sidelines I was in disbelief that we weren’t three or four goals up at halftime.

“We need to convert those chances, people can see we’re creating a lot and offensively asking a lot of questions. It’s a question of finishing teams off, and getting reward for that domination.”

Santalab admitted that his target is to convince Popovic that his performances warrant a starting place, with marquee striker Federico Piovaccari apparently out of favour, and Mark Bridge – scorer of the first goal on Saturday - having led the Wanderers line in recent weeks.

“I’d love to start every game, that’s every player’s dream,” Santalab said. “But at the end of the day, I train as best I can and the rest is up to the coach.

“I’m happy with the way I’m progressing and I feel I’m improving each session, which is all I can aim for. The important thing is that we’re winning again, we’ve gone top and I feel I’ve played a role in that.

“Starting games is a priority of mine for sure, but as always I have to listen to the coach and what he thinks is best for the team. From my point of view, I’m feeling better than ever, I was pretty unlucky to get a cork right in the hip joint against Adelaide that seemed to linger.

“For a couple of weeks it just wasn’t right, but now I’ve worked hard to get back in the squad and be part of things again. It was a good team goal on Saturday, there was a lot of pressing in good places and we got reward for that.”

Originally published as Western Sydney Wanderers striker Brendon Santalab hoping for extended run in side