Western Sydney Wanderers may have been reduced to ten but that wasn’t enough to stop them as they managed a 1-0 victory over Melbourne Heart.
The match got off to a tight start with the teams looking to assert their authority on the match which sparked in to life with Jerome Polenz being shown a red-card in the 13th minute.
Polenz was shown the straight red for deliberately obstructing a goal scoring opportunity when he clipped David Williams who was clean through.
Josip Tadic was handed the penalty rights but his shot was much too tame allowing Ante Covic an easy save to his left.
Despite being a man down Western Sydney looked to have the upper hand in the match with Mark Bridge forcing a good save out of Andrew Redmayne moments later.
Right on the stroke of half-time Western Sydney had a good shout for a penalty denied as Iacopo La Rocca’s header appeared to come off the arm of Tadic but the penalty was not given keeping the match scoreless at half-time.
Melbourne Heart looked a much better side after the break and Williams could well have put them in front moments in to the second half as he got on the end of a Nick Kalmar cross that was misjudged by La Rocca but could only find the side netting.
But the Wanderers continued to assert their authority on the match and kept having good opportunities to hit the lead.
In the 73rd minute Western Sydney finally hit the lead as Shinji Ono was able to score from the spot after Youssouf Hersi was dragged down.
Some impressive work from Covic made sure the Wanderers held on to the lead when Williams and Tadic both had shots blocked by the Wanderers’ keeper to secure a vital 1-0 victory.
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