Melbourne Heart are yet to grab their first A-League victory of the season following a 1-0 win for visiting side the Western Sydney Wanderers.
The home team could have taken the lead within the first minute following a cross into the box, which Golgol Mebrahtu managed to get on the end of, but his header just glided above the bar.
The Wanderers struggled to find their feet in the early stages, but they eventually managed to string a move together, which ended with Brendon Santalab with the ball on the edge of the area.
The forward found some space and unleashed a low shot towards the net, but after a slight deflection, Heart goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne was able to drop to his left and gather the ball.
A mix-up between goalkeeper and defender almost led to Heart grabbing the breakthrough after the ball ran beyond the defender, resulting in Ante Covic coming off his line, but while doing so, forward David Williams tried to latch on to the ball and there was a coming together in the area.
Williams protested to the referee claiming that he was fouled, but the match official waved away his claims and allowed play to continue with both sides failing to break the deadlock after 20 minutes.
Minutes later, some sloppy defending allowed Wanderers' Shannon Cole to control the ball in the box and give himself some space to launch a right-footed shot from the angle and into the bottom corner of the net, giving the visitors a one-goal lead.
After the break, Heart struggled to get out of their own half as the Wanderers launched waves of attack, but they managed to soak up the pressure in the first five minutes to keep the deficit at one.
Despite starting the half on the backfoot, Michael Mifsud caused some problems for Wanderers down the flanks. Numerous times the forward was able to deliver some swooping crosses into the box, but none of his teammates could make the most of his execution.
Mifsud tried a long-range shot himself after driving into the centre of the final third, but his effort glided just wide of the post. Minutes later, Mifsud drilled into the box once again, and squared the ball to Iain Ramsay, but the pass was blocked before it could reach the midfielder.
Despite creating some chances, the home side were unable to find an equaliser before the end of the match.
Danielle Joynson
