Western Sydney Wanderers have completed a dream start to the season and are clear at the top of the table after defeating bitter rivals Sydney FC 1-0 at Bankwest Stadium.
In a highly anticipated match on Wanderers territory, it was Sydney FC that painted the opening 15 minutes sky blue with Milos Ninkovic hitting the crossbar in the early on.
But for all of Sydney's pressure, the valve at Bankwest Stadium burst courtesy of Wanderers skipper Mitchell Duke. Paolo Retre was dispossessed in his own half and Daniel Georgievski put the ball on a dime for Duke to make it 1-0.
Sydney continued to dominate but weren't rewarded with a goal. Kosta Barbarouses should have squared the ledger, missing a clear cut opportunity in the box, leaving Sydney FC fans with their hearts in their throats.
Sydney fans will feel they were hard done by only a few minutes into the second half with VAR ruling out Barbarouses' header which rolled across the goal and into Daniel Lopar's hands.
Annd Lopar sealed three points for Western Sydney when he denied Kosta Barbarouses in a one-on-one.
Wanderers go top of the A-League by three points, heading into a home match against Brisbane Roar next week.
WESTERN SYDNEY WANDERERS
Daniel Lopar - 8
Lopar was like a cat, weaving and clawing at everything that came his way. It worked in the end as the Swiss goalkeeper kept a clean sheet and ensured the Wanderers kept all three points.
Daniel Wilmering - 6.5
Wilmering, to many people's surprise had Mitchell Duke giving him a boost in defence when kick came to punch. Rhyan Grant was still causing the youngster some problems as his decision making was put to the test.
Mat Jurman - 7
Granted Jurman is the more confident passer of the Wanderers centre-backs, Sydney's pressing game caused him some issues in the opening 15 minutes. However, he recovered well and kept Sydney's lightning attack at bay.
Dylan McGowan - 7
The younger McGowan in the Sydney 'Brotherhood' Derby. McGowan is improving after each game and was had a fantastic match for Western Sydney.
Daniel Georgievski - 7
A beautifully timed and weighted cross found the head of his captain Mitchell Duke to open the scoring in the Derby.
Sullivan was a bystander for the Wanderers in the first half, rarely involved in build up while his pressure on Brandon O'Neill didn't stop the midfielder from pulling his usual strings. He was removed in the 49th minute with an injury.
Keanu Baccus - 6.5
Keanu Baccus showed quick feet, which was needed to break through Sydney's midfield wall. He had Sydney's defence on the backfoot a number of times throughout the match.
Pirmin Schwegler - 7.5
Milos Ninkovic was finding a suspicious amount of space through the centre of the park as Schwegler struggled to keep tabs on Sydney's agile attack. Those issues were fixed in the second half with a fantastic performance from the Swiss midfielder.
Kwame Yeboah - 6
Yeboah grabbed a secondary assist to Duke's goal, involved in the build up once Retre lost the ball in the final third.
Mitchell Duke - 7.5
The Wanderers skipper sent Bankwest Stadium into raptures as he opened the scoring with a powerful header on 19 minutes. Duke's workrate and defensive performance was extraordinary and deserving of a win.
Alex Meier - 5.5
Meier's build up play was promising but he couldn't manage to get into threatening goal scoring positions enough during the match.
SUBSTITUTES
Mohamed Adam - 6
Adam was brought in to inject some more life into the Wanderers with the match at 1-0. He found very little of the ball and didn't threaten Sydney FC.
SYDNEY FC
Andrew Redmayne - 6
Duke's header was in the net before the Sydney FC goalkeeper had time to react.
Rhyan Grant - 6.5
Grant's work with his teammates down his right flank, which worked so well last week, wasn't at the same level in the derby. His crossing was in good form and progressed in the second half.
Ryan McGowan - 6
McGowan gifted Alex Meier the ball in his own half but quickly won it back a second later to prevent a goal scoring opportunity. An example of his night, neither here, nor there.
Alex Wilkinson - 6
Wanderers attacks were spread out across the match, but when they came, Wilkinson and his defence looked like they had their hands full.
Paolo Retre - 4
Retre's carelessness when playing out saw him lose the ball to Georgievski who helped himself to an assist for the derby opener.
Brandon O'Neill - 6.5
O'Neill built on his man of the match performance last week with an extremely high passing success rate which included a number of cross-field passes, stretching the Wanderers defence.
Luke Brattan - 6
Brattan was once again composed in the face of the Wanderers midfield pressure but overall had an average performance.
Alex Baumjohann - 5
Baumjohann wanted to get one over his former employers, but he showed some greed in his decision making in front of goal, and it may have cost Sydney the points.
Milos Ninkovic - 6
Ninkovic came closest to opening the scoring for Sydney when his deft flick nicked the crossbar off O'Neill's through ball.
Kosta Barbarouses - 4
Barbarouses' woes in front of goal continued when he butchered a gilt edged chance in the box to bring the scores level on the half hour mark. He missed another sitter in the second half as Lopar came up big to deny a clear chance.
Adam Le Fondre - 5
It seemed like Le Fondre had only one thing in his locker which was to move into the left hand channel and cut in, but Georgievski read it every time.
SUBSTITUTES
Anthony Caceres - 6
Caceres replaced Baumjohann as Corica chased a derby upset in the second half.
Luke Ivanovic - 6
Brandon O'Neill was replaced by the youngster as Sydney FC had 10 minutes to rescue the derby from defeat.
Joel King - N/A
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