A brilliant showing by local lad Tiago Quintal has seen Sydney FC extract some revenge on cross town rivals Western Sydney Wanderers, winning the 43rd Sydney Derby 4-1 at Allianz Stadium.
Ryan Fraser opened the scoring in 40 seconds for the Wanderers, but Victor Campuzano levelled things up inside 10 minutes before Marcel Tisserand put the Sky Blues ahead three minutes after half time.
Quintal – the best player on the park across the night – then nabbed the goals his performance deserved in the 55th and 68th minutes to secure all three points for Sydney and bump them up to second on the table.
16-year-old Akol Akon also starred for Sydney FC, putting on assists for three of the four goals.
The result continues the Sky Blues’ recent dominance of this fixture, with the win being Sydney’s fifth in the last seven instalments of the Sydney Derby.
The eventual result looked a remote possibility when Fraser picked up a great ball from Bozhidar Kraev on the left hand side of the penalty area, cut inside Rhyan Grant and unfurled a right footed shot into the far corner in the first minute.
Unfortunately what looked to be an iconic Derby moment for the Wanderers will be consigned to a footnote after Sydney’s subsequent work.
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The Sky Blues went level in circumstances nearly as remarkable as the opener when Victor Campuzano scored the Sky Blues’ 900th Isuzu UTE A-League goal in the 10th minute.
The Spaniard ran on to a brilliant ball from 16-year-old Akol Akon and tamely pushed his effort at Wanderers keeper Lawrence Thomas, who somehow let the ball squeeze through his legs.
The rest of the first half was also not short on moments, with Dylan Scicluna hammering a 25 yard shot over the bar and Pedro Quispe forcing a diving save out of Thomas from distance arguably the two best chances.
Sydney took control after half time however, with Tisserand taking advantage of the Wanderers’ messy effort at defending a corner to crack home a goal from point blank range and take the lead for the Sky Blues.
From there it was the Quintal show, with Akon’s driving runs into the area with the ball at his feet a feature of both of his two goals.
Quintal’s first goal saw the 19-year-old squeeze a shot through a forest of legs in the Wanderers, with one of the limbs belong to derby villain Anthony Pantazopoulos deflecting the ball past Thomas.
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Akon’s strength was again a feature of Sydney’s fourth goal, fending off three Western Sydney defenders to plate up Quintal on the edge of the area.
His shot was once again deflected past Thomas, but the brace was exactly what the Baulkham Hills boy deserved for his performance which will make him an immediate Sydney FC hero.
The win puts Sydney FC second on the Isuzu UTE A-League table, moving above Auckland – who the Sky Blues play next week in New Zealand – on goal difference.
Western Sydney’s next assignment is to host reigning premiers Melbourne City at Commbank Staidum next Saturday night.
ALEX TOBIN MEDAL VOTES:
3. Tiago Quintal
2. Akol Akon
1. Marcel Tisserand
