Sydney has been painted Red and Black after Western Sydney Wanderers downed Sydney FC 1-0 and moved into second on the A-League Men table at the Sydney Football Stadium on Saturday evening.
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Unfortunately for the 34,232 loud fans that made their way to the first derby at the new Sydney Football Stadium, the opening 45-minutes was a largely forgettable affair, with neither side able to produce much in the way of talking points or threatening efforts on their opponents’ goal — the story instead the raucous atmosphere in the stands.
But finally, a breakthrough was found in the 70th minute when the visiting Wanderers broke in transition through former Sydney legend Milos Ninkovic, who fed the ball to teammate Kusini Yengi. Cutting inside, the 23-year-old put both James Donachie and Anthony Caceres on skates before hammering the ball into the net and celebrating with a delirious Red and Black Bloc.
Saturday evening’s meeting, however, saw most of this subsumed by the storyline of Ninkovic coming up against his former side for the first time. The Serbian maestro’s move from Moore Park to Rooty Hill had been marked by a war of words and contrasting explanations behind his defection to the Wanderers and it made for a juicy talking point — especially when it was announced just days prior that he had secured Australian citizenship, supposedly a point of contention between he and his former club.
Sydney fans ceremonially burned one of their former hero’s shirts prior to the contest, while a tifo displayed by supporters’ group The Cove declared that “Traitors’ legacies will perish.” All very dramatic stuff. And the hurt feelings continued into the game itself as Ninkovic was booed every time he got on the ball.
When he was played through on Sydney custodian Andrew Redmayne in the 63rd minute the stage appeared set for a famous moment — only for the 37-year-old to fluff his lines and shoot straight at the keeper. You could almost hear the “whomp, whomp” trombone sound wringing out. Ninkovic, however, was able to make amends and play a pivotal part in his side’s win in the build-up to Yengi’s winner: leaving with an assist, three points and the last laugh.
