Sydney is Sky Blue no more as Wanderers win Derby

Sydney FC 2-3 Western Sydney Wanderers

By Alyce Collett 31/1/2026

Above: Amy Harrison (left) and Danika Matos (right) celebrate Western Sydney’s drought breaking Sydney Derby win. Photo: Ryan Miller-Woods for Impetus.

The Western Sydney Wanderers have won a Sydney Derby for the first time in over six years after defeating cross town rivals Sydney FC 3-2 this afternoon.

Riley Tanner opened the scoring before goals from Amy Chessari, Allyssa Ng-Saad and Yuan Cong flipped the script on its head. Amber Luchtmeijer pulled one back late for the Sky Blues but it was not enough.

Although it was even and free flowing initially, with both sides finding their way into their respective attacking thirds.

Sydney did not take long to take the lead though when Jodie Ulkekul fed the ball in perfectly from the middle of the park to the forward running Tanner, who slotted the ball past three defenders and goal keeper Sham Khamis into the back of the net.

Despite conceding the goal though, it was the Wanderers who took control of possession and attacking time as the half progressed. The only problem was that the Wanderers’ forwards were unable to work their way past a well positioned Sydney FC defence and put up a shot with any kind of danger factor.

The pain the Wanderers were feeling in front of goal was compounded late in the first half when Holly Caspers went down with what appeared to be a pretty serious knee injury.

However the Wanderers’ spirits were lifted in the dying seconds of first half stoppage time when Chessari – who was only in the starting 11 because Olivia Price got injured in the warm up – let a shot rip from outside the box and it sailed past an outstretched Tiahna Robertson, and suddenly the narrative of the match had completely changed.

Chessari’s goal was not only her first in the league, but her side’s first goal in a Sydney Derby in six years.

The half time stats painted an interesting picture.

The Wanderers had almost double the time in possession in the first half what their cross town rivals had recorded. This resulted in the Wanderers recording five more shots than the Sky Blues (eight to three) and had two more shots on target than their hosts (three to one). Western Sydney also had 11 more final third entries than Sydney, and over double the number of penalty area entries.

The energy and intensity remained high early in the second half, with plenty of players putting their body on the line.

This meant that Sydney did not escape copping an injury, with captain Sarah Hunter subbed early in the second half with what appeared to be a collarbone injury.

The Wanderers eventually found themselves a second goal at the hour mark after Ng-Saad took control of the ball in a chaotically packed penalty box and ultimately took a shot that split Robertson and Abby Lemon right down the middle.

It was a just reward for the Wanderers who were really on top of their big sisters when it came to territory and attacking play, with players like Tahlia Younis really causing plenty of headaches for the Sky Blues defence.

The result was solidified 10 minutes after Ng-Saad’s goal, when Yuan headed home a perfectly placed corner from Younis.

The Wanderers were on top, but there was still plenty of time for the Sky Blues to get back into the match.

The Sky Blues did get one goal back with about six minutes of regular time to go thanks to a well placed strike from Luchtmeijer that had some serious pace to it. However unfortunately for them they were unable to find a third goal to rescue a point from the clash.

Teams: SYDNEY FC (4-1-4-1): Robertson, Tumeth, Ayson, Pearson, Fenton, Lowry, Hunter, Cassar, Lemon, Ulkekul, Tanner. Substitutes: Fante,Hawkesby, Corbett, Luchtmeijer, Halmarick, Sullivan.

Scorers: Tanner 7’, Luchtmeijer 84’

WESTERN SYDNEY WANDERERS (4-3-3): Khamis, Wang, Harrison, Hooks, Matos, Chessari, Harada, Buchanan, Younis, Yuan, Caspers. Substitutes:  Bennett, Rue, Ng-Saad, Cerne, Edwards, Fazzari.

Scorers: Chessari 45+3’, Ng-Saad 60’, Yuan 70’

Referee: Isabella Mossin.

Attendance: 4,805.

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