A 74th-minute strike from Terry Antolis has earned Sydney FC a 4-3 victory over Western Sydney Wanderers in a thrilling contest in the A-League.
After opening up a 3-0 advantage, Sydney were pegged back by the bottom-placed side before Antolis struck in the final quarter of the match to move the visitors into fourth place in the standings.
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Going into the game, Sydney possessed the only unbeaten away record in the A-league ladder, and they took the first steps to maintaining that streak when a header from Marc Janko struck the post before hitting the back of goalkeeper Ante Covic and going into the net.
Just after the quarter-hour mark, Janko got himself on the scoresheet when poking home from close range after Chris Naumoff's shot was blocked, before the tall Austrian made it three on 24 minutes when slotting home from inside the penalty area.
The visitors had chances to make it four, but on 33 minutes, Wanderers pulled a goal back when Brendan Hamill's knock-back was fired into the net by Iacopo La Rocca.
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The goal gave the home side a little bit of momentum, and they capitalised on that to reduce the scoreline to 3-2 when Nikita Rukavytska burst through on goal before providing Kerem Bulut with the easy tap in on his debut.
Eight minutes after the restart, the comeback was complete when Bulut latched on to a flick from Mark Bridge to drill the ball into the corner from 20 yards.
Wanderers were in the ascendancy but after a flurry of substitutions disrupted the flow of the game, Sydney began to find their feet again and with 16 minutes remaining, they edged back in front.
Hamill made his way down the flank before crossing for Antolis, who kept his composure inside the penalty area before firing past Covic.
The home team were handed a lifeline in the final 10 minutes when Mickael Tavares was sent off for a second yellow card, but despite a late onslaught, Wanderers were unable to find a leveller.
Darren Plant
