Western Sydney Wanderers disappointing season went from bad to worse after slumping to a 3-0 loss to Melbourne Victory with Besart Berisha netting a hat-trick.
It was a night to forget for the Wanderers whose barren run at Olympic Park showed no signs of ending, failing to win in their sixth attempt at their new home precinct. Of all their frustrating performances this season, few hurt more as the Wanderers were left reeling from a third heavy defeat this season despite creating more than enough chances to win the contest. Thousands of fans left well before the final whistle after growing frustrated with the Wanderers failure to finish any of their several clear-cut opportunities in front of goal and a defensive structure showing no signs of strengthening.
It was a match that raised more questions over the problematic side who are yet to find a consistent answer to their centre forward role and will continue searching for a solution to their erroneous goalkeeping displays.
The bigger issue facing coach Tony Popovic is the individual errors that plagued the club in the early stages of the season have only seemed to grow after round 10, begging the question whether such misfortune is becoming endemic of broader issues.
The Wanderers finished the match with a 57 per-cent share of possession, held the majority of territory, fired 18 shots compared to Melbourne's 12, delivered 11 extra crosses than their opponents but by the sound of the final whistle, were left facing the harsh reality they were comfortably second best.
It was another match where fan favourite Kerem Bulut was left out entirely from the squad, casting doubt over his future within the Wanderers' attack. While Brendon Santalab started in his place and came close to opening the scoring in the second minute after dispossessing Melbourne defender Aritz Borda before shooting wide, his temperament undermined his high work rate.
A yellow card for a risky challenge minutes later meant he spent the rest of the match walking a tightrope as he continued to barrage his way over players and raise the stakes in the physical contests. He should have struck the back of the net with four great first-half chances.
However, their selection headache up front suddenly seemed insignificant when their goalkeeping horrors that plagued this season surfaced again. On the half-hour mark, Melbourne's German signing Maxi Beister unleashed a speculative 30-metre drive attempting to catch Wanderers' shot stopper Andrew Redmayne off guard, and while he got two hands to the ball, he palmed it straight into the path of Besart Berisha. The Albanian made no mistake in front of an unmanned goal, punishing Redmayne for another error that only put more pressure on the Wanderers goalkeeping crisis.
Santalab should have drawn level for the Wanderers with two late chances, missing a point blank header minutes later before a cut-back from Scott Neville gave the veteran a shot from close range that he blazed over the bar before the break.
They unravelled tactically and mentally, the Wanderers became incensed with referee Chris Beath and captain Dimas was lucky not to have been sent-off for dissent after being cautioned for a foul. They only had themselves to blame though when the contest fell further from their grasp in the 66th minute.
Substitute Jai Ingham delivered an inch perfect cross into the box in search of Berisha and, despite being closely marked by two central defenders, the Victory striker squeezed through Aritz Borda and Jonothan Aspropotamitis to fire a header into the roof of the net, heaping more woe on the hard working yet hapless Wanderers.
Nothing seemed to be going their way, not even a sense of justice when Ingham kicked out at Aspropotamitis while on the ground, the referee making the puzzling decision to give the Victory a winger a yellow card instead of what appeared to be a red. The only thing that turned red was the shade of their faces when Berisha sealed the impressive win with a clinical finish, securing a second successive 3-0 win over the Wanderers.
