The Wanderers ground out to a frustrating 1-1 draw against cellar dwellers Newcastle Jets, but there one player define the side for any future Wanderers manager.
DUKE & THE DOTTED LINE
Sign him up. The Wanderers can't afford not to.
Re-signing Duke would go a long way for the club putting into place a criteria for who they want their new coach to be.
Duke was at his best tonight and while the scoreline mightn't have reflected it, his performance partnering Simon Cox as front man was to die for.
The Liverpool local still has the tendency to drift wide to the left, but the benefit is that he is influencing where the ball goes in the final third, rather than building up further behind.
But his efforts on the park stretch beyond his performance on the ball. Duke's re-signing for the Wanderers is more important off the park. You can see in his tenacity and drive he embodies everything the club claims it represents.
He even had a rare piece of trickery in his locker to loop past John Koutroumbis in the second half.
The Wanderers executives aren't rushing their next appointment. You wanted a blueprint to replace Markus Babbel? Your man is Mitch Duke.
GIVE IT TO THE KIDS
Despite a win and a draw in Carl Robinson's first two matches, the season is over for Newcastle Jets. So, off to find positives in their campaign. Blooding in some youngsters isn't a bad shout.
If your chances of making the finals are all but dashed bringing in a handful of players into the first team to bring some life is a good foundation to build on for next season.
The Wanderers did something similar in Babbel's first season where we saw the introduciton of Mohamed Adam, Tate Russell and Tass Mourdoukoutas who have gone on to get plenty of senior minutes and fit in at A-League level, and all it took was half a season.
OLD TRICKS SOUR DRAW BUT POSITIVES IN SIGHT
Some old story. Struggle to convert their chances and cop a late equaliser, despite having a sensational opening 20 minutes.
The ires of Babbel haven't been totally flushed out since his departure, but a change like this was never going to happen quickly.
Luckily for the Wanderers they've taken four points from a possible six under de Marigny. With their next two games also in Sydney they will have spent over a month in their own backyard.
A start for Simon Cox is a promising sign for the Wanderers interim coach while significant improvements have been made by Bruce Kamau who was sending Bobby Burns on a merry dance in the game at right wing-back.
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