Maclaren double earns Melbourne City A-League win

Updated: May 17, 2023, 05:09 am

Jamie Maclaren continued his great scoring record against Western Sydney as Melbourne City overcame prematch disruptions to secure a 2-0 away win over the Wanderers on Tuesday.

The Socceroos sharpshooter scored in each half at Bankwest Stadium to give him a tally of 15 goals in 14 games against Western Sydney.

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City dominated the game despite losing their head coach and a key player in the leadup. Patrick Kisnorbo was being treated for suspected food poisoning so assistant Des Buckingham took charge. 

Florin Berenguer pulled out after tweaking an ankle in the warmup and was replaced by Naoki Tsubaki, while another influential player, Adrian Luna, missed the game with a hamstring niggle.

City brushed off the setbacks and were good value for a win over a Wanderers side who have slumped to successive home defeats in a few days.

The win lifted the Victorians from 10th to seventh, just a point behind the Wanderers with two games in hand.

Jamie Maclaren scored a brace to guide Melbourne City to victory.
Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

A poor pass from Keanu Baccus was intercepted by Craig Noone, whose pinpoint pass was controlled and rifled home by Maclaren in the sixth minute.

Maclaren doubled the lead in the 54th minute when he blasted a penalty into the roof of the net after the referee checked on a pitchside monitor and confirmed James Troisi had handled a Noone cross. 

He netted again in added time at the end of the match but was denied a hat-trick because of an offside ruling.

With wingers Noone and Andrew Nabbout producing plenty of danger out wide and Maclaren lurking menacingly in the middle, City were far more dangerous in the first half. Nabbout smashed a shot against the post and was off target with an unchallenged header from a corner.

Former English Premier League player Jordon Mutch made his Wanderers' debut as a half-time substitute, but was off target with two shots and collected a yellow card.

Wanderers finally created some decent chances in the last third of the game, especially when they got around the back and delivered good crosses. Substitute Bruce Kamau had a close range header well saved by Tom Glover and Thomas Aquilina headed over from close range.

City's Curtis Good almost increased the lead in the 82nd minute as he powered a close range header from a corner over the bar before the Wanderers had two goal-bound shots blocked within a couple of seconds.