Milos Ninkovic is weeks away from celebrating his 38th birthday but the two-time Johnny Warren Medallist is showing no signs of slowing down. Just check out his display in Western Sydney Wanderers’ 2-0 win over Newcastle Jets.
Chances were few and far between until Ninkovic unlocked Newcastle’s defence on the stroke of half-time at CommBank Stadium on Friday night.
Ninkovic, who made the big off-season move from rivals Sydney FC to the Wanderers, split Newcastle with a sublime pass to Calem Nieuwenhof before Romain Amalfitano eventually scored moments away from half-time.
The 37-year-old did not slow down in the second half after Brandon Borrello doubled the lead, putting in a 92-minute performance to ensure Western Sydney preserved their undefeated start to the season through four rounds.
“That kind of class is permanent. The legs and lungs might go but when you have that kind of class and experience, that will come through in those moments,” Paramount+ analyst Grace Gill said.
Paramount+ commentator Daniel McBreen added: “It was going to take a moment of someone to do something, some inventiveness. There hadn’t been any of that up until that point. Then you rely on old faithful Milos Ninkovic.
“… beautiful ball to break the defence.”
McBreen continued: “[The game] needed someone and Milos Ninkovic is that kind of player who can take the match by the scruff of the neck and open it up.”
Ninkovic: ‘I still enjoy playing‘
Much has been made about Milos Ninkovic and his age following that cross-town switch to Wanderland.
The question was – how often would Ninkovic play under Marko Rudan at the Wanderers? He started 17 of 22 matches in his final season with the Sky Blues, scoring three goals.
In red and black, Ninkovic has barely put a foot wrong, starting all four of Western Sydney’s matches in 2022-23.
Ninkovic amassed 87 minutes in Round 1, 79 minutes away to Melbourne Victory in the second round and 90 minutes last week before another 92 minutes on Friday night.
“I still enjoy playing and training everyday,” the former Serbia international told Paramount+.
“I came here to help the team, to win games. How long am I going to play – am I going to start, play every game or be on the bench? No one knows.
“But as I said, I’m really enjoying it. We have a great group of people. Look four games and 10 points, it’s not bad but we need to keep going.”
Ninkovic was asked about his age during his post-match chat and while he is ageing like a fine wine, Daniel McBreen wants to drop the age talk.
“Right, he is going to get sick of us saying this about being an older because he has played every game,” McBreen said in the aftermath of the game.
“I was an old player too one time and I got sick of it. He wants people to stop talking about his age and talk about his football.
“He is not going to get the ball and beat two or three players like he did four or five years ago. But, he still has the quality to pick a pass, put someone in on goal and really change the game. And he is doing it, doing it week in and week out.
“We should be talking about that, rather than he’s 38 years of age.”
‘An absolute fortress’ – Western Sydney’s goal at Wanderland
The Wanderers have played three games at CommBank Stadium this season, yielding a pair of victories and a draw. In that span, Western Sydney have kept two clean sheets.
Borrello, who returned to the A-Leagues via the Wanderers at the start of the season, detailed one of Western Sydney’s missions in 2022-23 as they eye a return to the finals.
“It’s one of our goals this season to make our home stadium an absolute fortress,” Borrello told Paramount+.
“It seems to be like that. We had to improve from last week where we scored a goal and dropped off. This week we just kept chipping at them.
“The boys knew it would be hard work but this is what the club is all about.”
Borrello was named Player of the Match after scoring Western Sydney’s second goal of the game, following Amalfitano’s opener.
After stints with Kaiserslautern, Freiburg, Fortuna Dusseldorf and Dynamo Dresden in Germany, former Brisbane Roar star Borrello is back in Australia and he celebrated his first ALM goal since April 2017.
“It was good to finally get the duck off the back,” a smiling Borrello said.
“I was speaking to Eddie Bosnar and the boss, and they said it’s about time you turned up.
“I was happy to score obviously but the amount of hard work that the boys put in today. It just shows what we’ve done all pre-season. We kept it simple and got rewarded.”
FRIDAY NIGHT RECAP
WESTERN SYDNEY WANDERERS 2-0 NEWCASTLE JETS
REPORT: WANDERERS GO TOP AS BORRELLO AND AMALFITANO OPEN THEIR ACCOUNTS
