Victory defeated, the Wanderers' finals hopes remain alive. Now watch this drive

After coming from behind to defeat Melbourne Victory, Western Sydney's eyes now turn to Melbourne City clash with Western United. Well, most eyes. Marko Rudan's not sure if he's going to watch yet.

To say that Western Sydney Wanderers have done all they can to secure a spot in the A-League Men finals isn’t entirely accurate. If they had, they would find themselves in this position heading into the season’s final day to begin with. But after coming-from-behind, twice, to defeat Melbourne Victory on Saturday evening, coach Marko Rudan’s side have at least done their bit to keep their hopes of sneaking into sixth by the end of the final week of the season alive. Now, all they can do is wait. 

Heading into the A-League Men’s final day, the Wanderers will sit in the sixth and final playoff spot, one point clear of Melbourne City. On the same AAMI Park surface that the Wanderers defeated Victory 4-3 the evening before, coach Aurelio Vidmar’s side will face Western United that afternoon knowing that they must win if they are to supplant their rivals and keep a decade-long run of finals alive. As while a draw would see the two belligerents draw level on 37 points, the Wanderers' eleven wins on the season would stand one superior to City’s total, sealing their advancement under the competition’s newly introduced tiebreaking system that prioritises wins; City’s goal difference being 15 superior to Western Sydne’s counting for naught in 2023-24. 

For the Wanderers, then, there’s little they can do beyond sit on the couch and hope that Rudan’s former employers in Melbourne’s west, who have already declared they will be doing City no favours, provide them with one instead. This extends to Rudan himself, who won’t be sticking around in Melbourne to watch that contest but will instead return back home to Sydney with the rest of his squad. 

And though it's inevitable that a healthy proportion of his chargers will be glued to their television when kickoff rolls around on Swan St, their coach expressed a hope in the aftermath of the win over Victory that his players – particularly the young difference-makers such as Oscar Priestman, Aidan Simmons, Zac Sapsford, Nathanael Blair, Nicolas Milanovic, Dylan Scicluna, and Marcus Younis – take a moment to savour what they’d accomplished on that evening. 

“I walked back in the dressing room and apparently the highlights of the goals were on and they were all just cheering that on themselves,” Rudan reflected. “It's almost like when they play Playstation and they pick themselves. It reminded me a bit of that. 

“They're young, I want them to enjoy this and this moment. I don't know what they're going to do. I'll be at home with my family and probably my eldest son watching it, like we always do the day after a game. He's worse than me when it comes to nerves and things like that. I don't know. 

“I don't even know if I'll watch it. I'll be honest. It's irrelevant because if we stay in, we don't play [City or Western United in finals]. So what's the point of watching it? 

“Maybe I'll go play some golf. I love playing some golf and getting my mind off things. I know my phone will go off, it will be berserk if there's any good news coming through. I'm not too sure if I'll watch it. 

“If the players do or don't, I'm not too sure either. But it's out of our hands now. We came here to do something, to do a job and did that.”

It will count for very little in the grand scheme of things if their season does end on Sunday – making it six out of the last seven seasons outside of the finals – but Saturday was indeed a remarkable result for the Wanderers. Down 2-0 and reeling after just 15 minutes, they took advantage of some abject Victory defending to bring the game back level by the 35th minute and, after Daniel Arzani restored the host’s lead, rallied back to grab a further two goals and the win thanks to Hammond and Preistman. 

Some Wanderers fans, quite fairly, really, may have been wondering where this endeavour and desperation – and the kids delivering it in spades – were amidst their side’s three-game losing run heading into this week, a series of defeats against Sydney FC, Brisbane, and Melbourne City that placed them on the edge of an abyss to being with. Rudan, though, thought differently. 

“It's always been there,” he said. “If I look over the last three games, in particular, I don't think we deserve to lose those games. I thought we deserved to get something. So it's always been there. 

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“It's great for them to get a result in the end because that character, that belief and the spirit was there. The fight. It's been there. But tonight we got the result. And that's always important, but more so important for them.

“It just gives [the youth] that added belief that they can play at this level. [The Wanderers are] a completely different team [compared to] last year, we had a lot of experienced players [last year]. This year, people questioned our depth but we had a lot of young players, there. They've been in this environment for the last 12 to 18 months. It just so happens that the door has opened a little bit earlier for them through injuries to other players, and key personnel.

“And then they've got to find themselves and find the belief and know that they're good enough to play at this level. Games like tonight, where they get a result [are important]. For the last three weeks I've been saying the same thing about them. It hasn't changed at all. The difference is that tonight we've got the win.”

If there were to be any negatives taken from Saturday’s win for the Wanderers, it would be a potential injury to goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas, who twice in the preceding 90 minutes denied gilt-edged chances for the normally lethal Bruno Fornaroli. 

It was in the follow-up to the second of those saves in the 94th minute that the custodian came a cropper, colliding with a sliding Scicluna after sending the Socceroo striker’s shot away.  

“I saw him afterwards and I asked him if he was okay,” Rudan said of Thomas. “He went straight into the dressing room to get some ice on it, he's a great pro. 

“I can't tell you right now, in terms of the extent of it. I think one of our players collided with Loz. I think it's an ankle.”