No player in the A-League has hurt the Wanderers more over the years than Melbourne Victory star striker Besart Berisha.
The 31-year-old managed to notch up his 10th goal in four and half seasons against the Wanderers after he scored a hat-trick in Victory’s 3-0 thumping win last weekend.
Whether it’s A-League Grand Finals for Brisbane or regular season blockbusters playing with Victory, the Wanderers are simply no match for whenever the former Albanian international is at his brilliant best.
Berisha’s impressive three goal performance last weekend also saw him shoot to the top of the A-League’s goal-scoring chart after 10 rounds.
Berisha had been under pressure of late to pull out a performance like last Saturday’s at ANZ Stadium.
“Last week the word was is Berisha past it? Is he good enough? This week he’s a top player,” Wanderers coach, Tony Popovic said.
“Everyone changes their minds every week. Berisha is a top player, always has been and always will be.”
For Popovic’s men, it was the second time in less than a month that they’ve suffered defeat at the hands of Melbourne 3-0.
“It was a repeat of last time,” Popovic stated.
“We can’t really ask too much more from the players, they keep getting better every week but today we didn’t get the result.
“The chances Melbourne had they scored and we got punished.”
Western Sydney arrived in New Zealand this week to battle the eighth-placed Wellington Phoenix on Saturday afternoon.
The Wanderers are currently clinging onto sixth spot on the ladder, having recorded just two wins from 10 matches so far this season.
After last week’s debacle at home, the Wanderers will be hoping for better luck across the ditch.
“Wellington are always tough,” Wanderers captain, Dimas Delgado said.
“They have good players but if we play harder and keep doing our things right, we are quietly confident of a win.”
This Saturday’s match will be shown live on FOX Sports at 5.35pm.
Nathan Taylor is the Weekender’s Deputy Editor and Senior Sports Writer. He also compiles the weekly Chatter on the Box TV column. Nathan is an award-winning journalist, who has worked at the Weekender for a decade.
