Under the watchful eye of new Socceroos boss Bert Van Marwijk, which A-League Aussies impressed the Dutchman?

Sydney FC 

Andrew Redmayne - 6

Redmayne’s ninth clean sheet of the season as he made himself big to deny McGlinchey a chance to pull one back in the second half. 

Luke Wilkshire - 6

Was caught out for pace by McGlinchey on a number of occasions but managed to steady his ship as the game wore on. Going forward he wasn’t as effective, nor needed as a result of Sydney’s rapid attacks this evening. 

Alex Wilkinson - 7.5

Another confident performance from the Socceroo. A satisfying display with his passing as well as handling the pressure and space around the box. 

Jordy Buijs - 7

Caught unawares at the beginning of the match as McGlinchey found space in behind, luckily for the Dutchman nothing came of the chance. Wellington’s lack of midfield pressure allowed him more time to take the ball forward as he was seen more often around the oppositions box than his own.

Michael Zullo - 7

A decent evening by his standards racking up his fifth assist for the season as he drilled an accurate ball along the goal for Brosque to open the scoring. Defensively exceptional disallowing Adam Parkhouse any opportunities down the right.

Paulo Retre - 6.5

With the absence of Brandon O’Neill, Retre took the chance to start in his comfortable defensive midfield role. In his first start since November the 24-year old delighted with a rather impressive passing range although his match sharpness needs some work after losing possession a number of times. 

Joshua Brillante - 7.5

After a few wobbly weeks Brillante was back at his usual best tonight. Flawless marshalling in midfield and alongside the central defenders with a competent tackle success rate as well as confident passing.

Milos Ninkovic - 7

Sprung to life more in the second half with a number of key passes sending Bobo through one-on-one twice but with no avail as the Brazilian couldn’t convert. Took advantage of Daniel Mullen’s sloppiness to convert his third of the season and for the night. 

Alex Brosque - 8

The skipper earns the match ball this evening with a goal and an assist. He opened the scoring inside ten minutes taking advantage of Marco Rossi’s lack of defensive positioning, rounding Italiano and sliding the ball into the net. Moments later the skipper showed some fancy footwork to set up Mierzejewski for the second. 

Adrian Mierzejewski - 7.5

After tonight there is no way the Pol can’t be apart of Sydney FC’s Asian Champions League campaign. Scoring his ninth goal of the season Mierzejewski was fed by Brosque and showed composure to power home a thunderous low strike past Italiano. 

Bobo - 6

With 18 goals in as many games this season you’d expect much more from Bobo considering they were up against one of the worst defences in the league. Botched two one-on-ones and could have done himself a favour to catch Bruno Fornaroli’s goal record had he been more composed. 

Substitutes 

Matt Simon - 5.5

Subbed on for Bobo with 23 minutes remaining and opened up the play with an extraordinary switch across the park but unfortunately Wilkshire couldn’t make anything of it. 

David Carney - 6

Brought on for Alex Brosque with ten minutes to go and remained a thorn in the side of the Wellington defence. A thorn he was as he netted the fourth goal after a one-two with Aaron Calver who drilled it across the face of goal for Carney to poke home. 

Aaron Calver - 6

Brought on for some much needed game time ahead of the Asian Champions League for Luke Wilkshire. He’ll take some confidence from his assist for Carney as he helped put the nail in the coffin for Wellington for the fourth goal.

Wellington Phoenix 

Lewis Italiano - 4

Was rounded by Brosque for the opener but was victim to some calamitous positioning of his central defenders as Mierzejewski slammed home the second. A top save denied the Pol a second from the free-kick but moments later had to clear the ball off his own line from a poor back pass. Still on the hunt for a clean sheet since round ten. 

Daniel Mullen - 4.5

Disappointing night after a barnstorming match last week where he netted and grabbed an assist in a win against Newcastle. Again a victim of poor communication at the back and his right hand partnership with Parkhouse just isn’t reaping rewards.

Andrew Durante - 3.5

A dreadful evening from the milestone man mixing up his communication with Goran Paracki to allow the marauding Brosque into a goal scoring position. As skipper and marshaller of the defence his on field performance wasn’t the only thing that was dreadful as no-one in black and yellow were on the same page tonight. 

Marco Rossi - 2

Another poor evening for the Italian defender who was like a headless chook defending Zullo’s low cross across the box with Brosque completely out-witting him to walk the ball into the net. Was substituted after half an hour for Dylan Fox presumably for a formation change to five defenders at the back. 

Scott Galloway - 5.5

Last time out against Sydney Galloway played at right full-back and was torn to shreds, this time around on his favoured left side his flank was breached with balls in behind the defender for Bobo and Mierzejewski as Wellington again conceded four goals to Sydney FC.

Matthew Ridenton - 6.5

A real Jekyll and Hyde performance from the Kiwi midfielder. Showed many glimpses of class including some exceptional close control to play his way out of trouble in the first half. However, there were moments where simple passes seemed too strenuous to pull off and was sluggish. 

Goran Paracki - 5

Was in all sorts as his poor communication with Durante led to the second goal for Sydney and was completely out run by Brillante who disallowed him time and space to make an impact and control the match. 

Adam Parkhouse - 5

Poor tracking back from Parkhouse allowed Zullo free reign to roam forward early in the match which eventually lead to him assisting the opening goal. 

Michael McGlinchey - 6

Had Wilkshire under a lot of pressure early on in the match dancing through to create several early knocks on the door. Faded away as Sydney settled into the match and had no choice but to handle raking balls across the field eliminating his creative flow. 

Matija Ljujic - 5

Same story goes for Ljujic. Early in the match he seemed to get comfortable controlling the ball and passing around the box. Nevertheless he still lost possession multiple times which allowed Sydney FC to exploit the enormous gap in the Wellington midfield. 

Nathan Burns - 5

Started at striker for the injured Andrija Kaludjerovic but disappointed as he struggled to find a touch of the ball throughout the match. Would have suited him better to drop a little deeper to find some time and allowed Mcglinchey to roam centrally or vice versa but things collapsed in the front third often. 

Substitutes 

Dylan Fox - 5

Subbed on for Rossi after 30 minutes but Wellington were still as vulnerable. 

Liberato Cacace - 5.5

The 17-year old Wellington boy made his debut tonight and was thrown into the fire for forty minutes against the league leaders. Got in behind the Sydney defence after being fed by Matija Lujic and created Wellington’s only real chance. 

Alex Rufer - N/A

Subbed on for Scott Galloway with five minutes remaining.