Western Sydney's Youssouf Hersi threw himself into yesterday's match, scoring twice and ending up in the goals himself after this one, much to the frustration of Adelaide keeper Eugene Galekovic. Picture: Getty Images Source: Getty Images
WESTERN Sydney livewire Youssouf Hersi scored twice and created another goal in a 4-2 thumping of free-falling Adelaide United yesterday.
The third-placed Wanderers skipped three points clear of Adelaide, whose off-field pain returned no on-field gain at Hindmarsh Stadium. After John Kosmina suddenly quit as coach last Monday, the Reds crashed to a third consecutive defeat in a listless display under interim coach Michael Valkanis.
Western Sydney's trumpcard in its fourth win in a row was Ethiopia-born, Netherlands national Hersi, who banked a brace and created a goal for Mark Bridge, while Mateo Poljak also scored.
Reds striker Bruce Djite and Iain Ramsay netted in the second half to briefly appease a restless 9686-strong crowd in Adelaide.
Hersi's attacking flair dominated the fixture and he opened the scoring after a goal-mouth scramble in the 43rd minute.
Hersi's teammate Aaron Mooy had two rapid-fire scoring attempts, the second going within centimetres of going in only for Adelaide goalkeeper Eugene Galekovic to flick the ball from the goal line.
But Galekovic's save dribbled into Hersi's path and he duly converted with a neat right-footer.
Just a minute later, Hersi, approaching the by-line, hooked a pass to Bridge, who was left alone on the penalty spot and rifled in the Wanderers' second.
Bridge created more trouble in the 52nd minute when he pinpointed a cross to Hersi, who netted his second goal with a header from a metre out.
Djite temporarily raised the home side's spirits in the 61st minute when he scored from a sweet 15m shot. But Poljak hit the mark from close range seven minutes later for the Wanderers, before Adelaide's Ramsay curled in a low left-footer for a consolation score in the 87th minute.
At the end of round 19, the Central Coast Mariners are on top of the table, but looming only one win away in second place, the Melbourne Victory appear the team that could dethrone them.
Courtesy of this season's super-striker Daniel McBreen, the Mariners salvaged a 2-2 draw in Brisbane on Friday night.
The spirited Roar came from a goal down to lead 2-1 and were poised to inflict just the Mariners' third defeat before McBreen equalised in the 80th minute with his 14th goal of the season.
The point lifted the struggling defending champions to sixth spot with under-fire coach Mike Mulvey declaring they were "on the road to recovery".
"The situation is like a patient -- we've done some diagnosis, we've had a look at what the problem is, we're trying to do operations to fix things and it takes a little bit of time," said Mulvey.
Sydney FC let a top-six spot slip in their 2-2 draw with Newcastle on Saturday night.
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