Western Sydney Wanderers 0-2 Sydney FC
by Ben Gilby (28/3/25)
Above: Sydney FC celebrate after Indiana dos Santos (second left) put her side 2-0 up in the derby tonight. Photo: Sydney FC.
Sydney FC’s hopes of clinching what, for so long looked to be a highly unlikely place in the Finals, are firmly on thanks to this success in the Sydney derby at Marconi Stadium tonight.
A penalty from Mackenzie Hawkesby in first-half stoppage time and Indiana dos Santos’ strike with just over 25 minutes to go sealed the Sky Blues’ third win in their last four games, with the latter also claiming the record as the youngest ever scorer in a Sydney derby.
It was dos Santos who was the standout player in an attacking sense in the first half. She forced Sham Khamis into the first serious save of the match and then saw a power blaster of an effort go wide.
The 17-year-old was also involved in the build-up to her side’s opening goal three minutes into additional time in the opening half. Her corner from the right fell for Maddie Caspers who looked to beat Amy Harrison, only for the Wanderers defender to handle in the box.
Mackenzie Hawkesby stepped up to power the ball down the centre and beat Khamis in the Wanderers’ goal.
Sydney kept up the momentum in the early stages of the second half. Just three minutes in, Caley Tallon-Henniker advanced along the right flank and held off her opponent well to step back and feed Hawkesby behind her. The attacker burst into the box, leaving would-be tacklers in her wake to hit a powerful shot that went into the side netting.
Five minutes later, Bronte Trew was released with a superbly weighted low pass through the midfield, which rolled perfectly into her stride to advance into the box, and just held off two defenders to release a shot that was well saved by the outstretched foot of Sydney keeper Jasmine Black.
Sydney hit back strongly with Millie Farrow showing her influence after coming on as a sub. First, the English striker saw an effort go high over the bar after being found by more excellent wing play from Tallon-Henniker. Then, she squared the ball off to Princess Ibini positioned 25 yards outside the area, to the left of centre. Ibini’s first-time shot came crashing off of the crossbar.
The second goal finally came after 64 minutes. Wanderers coughed up possession trying to play out from the back, allowing Farrow to break forward towards the left-hand post before laying off perfectly into the path of dos Santos to fire first-time high into the far corner of the net.
Wanderers tried to rally, and with a quarter of an hour remaining, with Trew central to their remaining opportunities. First, her shot rolled agonisingly against the right-hand post. Then, Sophie Harding played a glorious one-touch side-footed pass with the inside of the boot into Trew’s path centrally in the box, but the shot went frustratingly wide of the left-hand post.
With two minutes remaining, Western Sydney spurned their final chance. Madison McComasky played in Trew, who had her back to goal, and on the turn, placed a shot well wide of the right-hand post.
Whilst Sydney left Marconi Stadium with the points, it could have been a different story had the Wanderers been able to be far more accurate in front of goal. The creativity was good, the finishing less so. It will now be extremely difficult for them to avoid the wooden spoon this season.
The Sky Blues now return to the Harbour City for their penultimate game of the home-and-away season against a Perth Glory side who, on one hand are yet to win on the road this season, but on the other, should they defeat Canberra United tomorrow, will set up next weekend’s match as a virtual elimination final. Sydney then face a tricky trip to Adelaide United on the final weekend.
Teams: WESTERN SYDNEY WANDERERS (3-4-2-1): Khamis, Buchanan, Harrison, McComasky, Rue, Harada, Chessari, Matos, Saveska, Price, Caspers. Substitutes: Bennett, Harding, Segavcic, Trew, Younis.
SYDNEY FC (4-1-4-1): Black, Tumeth, Thompson, Tobin, Lemon, Hollman, Tallon-Henniker, Johnson, dos Santos, Caspers, Hawkesby. Substitutes: Bryson, Farrow, Connors, Ibini, Mason-Jones.
Scorers: Hawkesby 45’+3 (pen), dos Santos 64′.
Referee: Page Malau-Aduli.
Attendance: 1,409.
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