Newcastle Jets 0 Western Sydney Wanderers 3
Support : 8000 Western Sydney fans made the journey north. Photo: Getty Images
The first stage of the miracle from Western Sydney is officially complete after the Wanderers hammered the Newcastle Jets at Hunter Stadium on Friday night to claim the Premiers' Plate.
Roared on by almost 10,000 travelling fans who drove up the F3, the Wanderers went ahead thanks to a first-half brace from Mark Bridge. Born and raised in Penrith, there could be no more fitting player to make the difference.
Mark Bridge of the Wanderers is challenged by Joshua Brillante of the Jets. Photo: Getty Images
Putting an exclamation mark on proceedings, Rocky Visconte's 80th-minute bullet was a beautiful strike that capped a faultless team display. The win takes the Wanderers six points clear of Central Coast, and puts them on 18 wins for the season, equal with the record set by Brisbane Roar when they won the championship in 2010-11.
For a club that didn't exist a year ago - and only begun being assembled three months before the season - it goes down as one of the all-time great accomplishments of Australian sport. Now their next challenge is to win their next two finals matches, a feat that would make them overall champions.
''There's no real big emotions at the moment. Maybe because I'm new to this, I don't know what to feel,'' Wanderers coach Tony Popovic said after the match. ''But I'm looking forward to telling the players how proud we are of them. It's been an amazing season and a great way to finish it off today. It was a pressure game for both teams and the players really stood up. That's what I'm most pleased about.
''We go into the finals as the premiers and with a lot of confidence. We go into Asia now.
''Although, in this country, the grand final winner is the champion, and we have to respect that. But there's a reason why last year Central Coast [as premiers] were given the automatic spot [for the Asian Champions League], and Brisbane [as champions] were given the half spot. Around the world, if you come first in the league, you're a worthy champion. That's what I'll be telling the players.''
The loss ruled Newcastle out of finals calculations, which was good news for Sydney FC. Now the Sky Blues will focus all their attention on Saturday night's clash in Perth, where the Glory need only a draw against Adelaide to take their place in the top six.
While a season-high crowd of 22,518 packed into the stadium - the third-biggest in Newcastle's A-League history - it looked and felt like a Wanderers home game. When the visiting fans found their place at the north-east corner of the stadium, they swallowed up 10 bays of the Andrew Johns Stand. Their noise certainly swallowed up anything the home fans could manage.
Aaron Mooy failed a fitness test, paving the way for Wanderers youngster Yianni Perkatis to make his season debut, with Michael Beauchamp resuming in central defence. Youssouf Hersi returned on the right of midfield after a one-game suspension, while Shannon Cole took the injured Adam D'Apuzzo's place and Jerome Polenz's four-game ban meant Tarek Elrich was one of five former Jets turning out for the Wanderers.
As fate would have it, Elrich would have a hand in the opening goal - as would two other former Jets. His cross-field pass to Labinot Haliti was ambitious, but the forward, wide on the left, showed great touch to clip the ball across goal. Dino Kresinger's air-swing didn't deter Bridge, who tapped home his 10th goal of the season.
Despite the goal, the Wanderers' pressure only intensified, and Popovic willed his team to keep pressing the Jets higher and higher up the pitch. The home side regularly had trouble playing its way out of defence because the swarm of red-and-white shirts closed in.
A second goal seemed inevitable and Bridge - a hero in Newcastle for scoring the winning goal in the 2008 grand final - was the man to provide it. He read Kresinger's flick-on header and while he never quite controlled the ball, he kept it moving forward and managed to force it over Mark Birighitti.
The second half seemed to lack intensity, especially from the Jets' perspective. They plugged away in patches but scarcely gave Popovic any reason to worry.
Nobody would be spoiling the Wanderers' party, which looked set to kick on well into the night after substitute Visconte speared home his drive from distance.
WESTERN SYDNEY WANDERERS 3 (Mark Bridge 6m, 33m, Rocky Visconte 80m) bt NEWCASTLE JETS 0 at Hunter Stadium. Crowd: 22,518. Referee: Ben Williams.
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