Article by Macarthur Bulls Junior Reporter, Edward HALLOWELL
On 1st November 2025, the Macarthur Bulls took on the Western Sydney Wanderers in Round 3 of the new Isuzu Ute A–League men season. The game had high expectations in the build-up. It was lovely weather, the Red Bull truck was pumping music, and Joshua Damevski and Dean Bosnjak were signing posters while they recover from injury. There was a variety of score predictions including 2-1, 3-2, and 1-0 which were all in favour of the Bulls. However, these predictions would all prove to be… well… WRONG.
The game kicked off just after 7:35pm and I don’t know what Mile told the boys pre-match, but it must have been motivating. Just 90 seconds had passed when Talbot whipped a ball in from the right flank, which Sawyer somehow managed to header in and give the bulls a 1-0 lead.
The next 20 or so minutes were dominated in possession by the Wanderers but were dominated in shots by the bulls. There was a big chance in the 8th minute when Sime Grzan fired a shot out of the area which ended up blazing over the bar. In the 37th minute, Bozhidar Kraev tried his luck from 20 metres out and he almost picked out the top corner which would have equalised for the Wanderers. The rest of the half was pretty quiet until on the stroke of halftime, Sawyer had a big chance to make it 2 for the bulls and himself, but he directed a header just over the goal and onto the roof of the net.
During halftime, the two teams discussed their strategies for the second half. I asked Filip Kurto post-match what the mood was like in the changing room during halftime and he said that it was positive and that they were happy with their first half performance.
The second half kicked off and at six minutes in, Callum Talbot forced a save from Lawrence Thomas. At the 53rd minute, Sime Grzan had a go from the edge of the area with his less preferred left foot, but he just put it over Thomas’ goal. Grzan had another chance in the 66th minute when he drove down the left wing, went around Anthony Pantazopouolos and put a relatively tame shot straight at the keeper.
One minute later, the 67th minute sparked many of the fellow Macarthur fans. The phrase “6-7” was echoed for that whole minute as it did last Monday against Adelaide.
Sawyer was really getting into it with his head. He had headered the ball for the first goal and he had two big chances to score a second including just missing the goal in the 73rd minute. Six minutes later, former Western United player Luke Vickery missed a big chance to seal all 3 points. That miss would prove costly… very costly. Anthony Pantazopoulos headed the ball home in the 82nd minute which meant the final score was 1-1.
I interviewed Filip Kurto post-match, and asked him a few questions. The main thing I asked him was what advice he had for a young goalkeeper, and he gave me these words of wisdom: “Save the ball that is the main thing”.
In the post-match press conference, coach Mile Sterjovski talked about how he loved the boys’ performance up until half time and that he reckons that once fatigue settled in, the wanderers were more dominant in duals and that they probably deserved to get their goal and equalise. He talked about how you can’t under-estimate how hard it was to travel all across Asia because of the Asian Champions League Two and that was a factor in the team’s performance. Mile said that the team are really being tested because of the player shortages and injuries.
I asked him “Even though it might not have been the result they wanted what positives do you take and what needs improving as you move forward this season?” His answer was that there were a lot of positives and that it was a really entertaining first half and that is what they want to do: Play exciting football.
Saturday was a stimulating game with an electric atmosphere that hopefully the fans can bring into our next home match against Perth Glory later this month. But before that, stay tuned for when the Macarthur Bulls take on Sydney FC this Sunday at 3pm. GO THE BULLS!
