City come back to beat 10-man Wanderers
On-loan Ritchie De Laet scored twice as Melbourne City came from behind to beat Western Sydney Wanderers 4-3 at AAMI Park.
The former Belgium international put City ahead in the opening minute, while his second goal got them back on terms with six minutes left.
City grabbed victory four minutes into injury time when Bart Schenkeveld scored his first goal for the club with a powerful header from a corner.
The home side had trailed 3-2 with half an hour to go, but the sending-off of Wanderers youngster Keanu Baccus proved crucial.
Warren Joyce's side were able to take advantage to secure a win that puts them within six points of leaders Perth Glory.
Western Sydney suffered a sixth consecutive loss and are now 13 points off the Finals Series places having played a game more than sixth-placed Adelaide.
They were punished for some sloppy defending inside the first few seconds when De Laet was able to collect a pass intended for Wanderers keeper Nick Suman and open the scoring.
Markus Babbel's team equalised on 28 minutes as Jaushua Sotirio went down under challenge in the area and Roly Bonevacia slotted the resulting spot-kick past keeper Eugene Galekovic, scoring for a third consecutive match.
City restored their advantage with a superb goal from Luke Brattan, who nutmegged former City attacker Nick Fitzgerald and then hit a powerful shot into the top corner.
The visitors started the second half well and had overturned that lead within 10 minutes of the restart.
Jordan O'Doherty's cross was headed home by teenage defender Tass Mourdoukoutas for his maiden A-League goal, then Sotirio's curling finish into the top corner soon made it 3-2.
Baccus picked up his second yellow card of the night soon after, going over the top of the ball in a challenge on Schenkeveld.
De Laet, on loan from Aston Villa and continuing to play as a makeshift striker in the absence of Bruno Fornaroli, struck past Suman to equalise before Schenkeveld earned the victory.
Melbourne City are 6/1 to win the Grand Final.
View all Soccer betting
On-loan Ritchie De Laet scored twice as Melbourne City came from behind to beat Western Sydney Wanderers 4-3 at AAMI Park.
The former Belgium international put City ahead in the opening minute, while his second goal got them back on terms with six minutes left.
City grabbed victory four minutes into injury time when Bart Schenkeveld scored his first goal for the club with a powerful header from a corner.
The home side had trailed 3-2 with half an hour to go, but the sending-off of Wanderers youngster Keanu Baccus proved crucial.
Warren Joyce's side were able to take advantage to secure a win that puts them within six points of leaders Perth Glory.
Western Sydney suffered a sixth consecutive loss and are now 13 points off the Finals Series places having played a game more than sixth-placed Adelaide.
They were punished for some sloppy defending inside the first few seconds when De Laet was able to collect a pass intended for Wanderers keeper Nick Suman and open the scoring.
Markus Babbel's team equalised on 28 minutes as Jaushua Sotirio went down under challenge in the area and Roly Bonevacia slotted the resulting spot-kick past keeper Eugene Galekovic, scoring for a third consecutive match.
City restored their advantage with a superb goal from Luke Brattan, who nutmegged former City attacker Nick Fitzgerald and then hit a powerful shot into the top corner.
The visitors started the second half well and had overturned that lead within 10 minutes of the restart.
Jordan O'Doherty's cross was headed home by teenage defender Tass Mourdoukoutas for his maiden A-League goal, then Sotirio's curling finish into the top corner soon made it 3-2.
Baccus picked up his second yellow card of the night soon after, going over the top of the ball in a challenge on Schenkeveld.
De Laet, on loan from Aston Villa and continuing to play as a makeshift striker in the absence of Bruno Fornaroli, struck past Suman to equalise before Schenkeveld earned the victory.
Melbourne City are 6/1 to win the Grand Final.
View all Soccer betting
Source: bet365.com
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