Down 2-0 late in the first half, it was always going to be an uphill battle for the Wolves. And then Marcus Beattie was controversially sent from the field.
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The decision reduced the home side to 10 men for the remainder of Sunday's game, as Blacktown City pushed on to claim a 5-0 win at Albert Butler Park. To pour further salt on the wounds, the Wolves also lost defender Nikola Djordjevic to injury.
Wolves coach Luke Wilkshire was understandably frustrated after the match.
"I've watched it back on video already and it's not a red card for mine, Anyone who knows football would know that's not a red card. Nikola Drjordjevic being injured didn't help either, it doesn't look good - he has a swollen ankle," Wilkshire said.
"We knew what they're (Blacktown) about. They sit in and defend well, they're good defensively, they break on you and they're good on set pieces. And that showed today. But we need to be better. If you look at the goals we conceded, they're from our own mistakes, losing balls through the middle of the break and set pieces. We'll have a look at the game, we'll analyse it and there's definitely things that we need to improve."
Blacktown had the first real chance on Sunday. A nice through ball to Mario Shabow was headed across the Wolves goal mouth, but teammate Travis Major couldn't connect.
The visitors continued to look the more dangerous side early. They nearly had their first goal through an own goal, however, Djordjevic charged back to kick the ball away. Unfortunately, he collided with the goal post and needed to be assisted from the ground.
But Blacktown didn't have to wait too long to score their opening goal. A lovely through ball to Charles Mendy got himself on-on-one with the goalkeeper, and he squeezed the ball past Hayden Durose to give his side a 1-0 lead.
Blacktown's second goal came near the half-hour mark. From a corner, Major headed the ball into a dangerous spot, and Lachlan Campbell swooped in down low to extend their advantage to 2-0.
Both sides had their chances in the remaining 15 minutes, including a shot from Wollongong's Marcus Beattie that just went over the bar. However, there was controversy late in the half when Beattie received a red card for his challenge on Shabow, who was dragged down just outside the box.
From the free kick, Adam Berry's shot just went over the cross bar, but Blacktown led 2-0 at the break.
The Wolves needed to start the second half well and they nearly did, with Liam Wille putting through a dangerous ball for Leroy Jennings, but Blacktown gloveman Dylan Niski was able to grab possession.
Both sides continued to have half-chances, but the respective defences were up to the task.
However, Blacktown soon had their third. After finding some space, their first shot was blocked by Durose, who could only parry the ball towards Major and his header found the back of the net.
Then the dam wall finally broke.
From a corner, the ball fell to Campbell's head, who missed the target but found Major to score City's fourth goal. Four then became five minutes later courtesy of a Wolves own goal.
Blacktown continued to press hard late in the game, but couldn't add to their five-goal advantage by the full-time whistle.