Western Sydney coach Markus Babbel was deflated after the match, once again criticsing his players for their lack of "fight" in the clinches.

"I'm very angry today. We did too many mistakes," he said. "In the second half we conceded two set pieces. It's not acceptable, sorry. If someone is shooting from 25 metres into the top corner, OK, I have to accept this. But two set pieces?

"It's me or him, and I'm a man down... believe me, you never will get the ball. But this is the DNA in this team. We are not this hungry in this moment, we don't see the danger in this moment and we don't have to be surprised if we lose this game then. If we are not changing this we will never win something, no chance."

The Wanderers had the better of the opening exchanges, while the Sky Blues looked a touch disjointed. An injury to Jop van der Linden didn't help, although some Sydney FC supporters might have disagreed given the Dutchman's inconsistent form of late. He was only in the starting team because Alex Wilkinson was suffering gastro.

Van der Linden twinged his hamstring while making a challenge in the 15th minute, prompting coach Steve Corica into an early reshuffle. Instead of calling upon centre-back Jacob Tratt, however, he moved Brandon O'Neill back to defence and brought on Paulo Retre.

Western Sydney took a deserved lead in the 23rd minute. Alexander Baumjohann floated in a tasty free-kick that hovered right around the six-yard box and Oriol Riera managed to get his foot on it to divert it home.

But three minutes later, a horrific error of judgment from Janjetovic changed everything. It started with a long ball over the top from Sydney FC that fell in front of Adam Le Fondre down the left flank. Patrick Ziegler seemed to have him well covered, but for reasons only he will be able to explain, Janjetovic decided to rush out of his box and help out.

Le Fondre found an angle to shoot and, instinctively, Janjetovic leapt to try and get a glove on it. The problem was he was outside the penalty box, giving referee Jarred Gillett one of the easiest red card decisions he'll ever have to make.

"It wasn't the best idea from Vedj," Babbel said. "Until this situation we were good in the game. We created good chances, we scored."

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It forced Babbel to send on his back-up goalkeeper Daniel Nizic. But as if the match wasn't bonkers enough already, Babbel decided to sacrifice Baumjohann – by far Western Sydney's best player – to make way for him.

Baumjohann was livid, and was captured by TV cameras sitting in silence in the dressing room with a towel draped over his head. Unsurprisingly, the Wanderers lost their attacking spark without him.

Corica was delighted. "I was quite happy to see him go off the pitch," he said. "He is a good player, he was causing a few problems in behind our midfield. Once he took him off, there was that problem gone. Then we just had to worry about the balls in behind with their pace in the wide areas."

Babbel later argued he had little choice but to withdraw Baumjohann, and said he'd do it again if he had his time over. "Alex is a fantastic footballer and I feel really, really sad for him because he's one of our best players," he said. "But in this moment for me it was clear - we need legs now, and we have to defend. It's not his biggest strength. It was Alex or Ori (Riera)."

Sydney FC assumed control and then made it count on the stroke of half-time. Joshua Brillante received a pass from a short corner kick and took a lash at goal. It cannoned into the left post and rebounded straight to Alex Brosque, who tucked it away to even the ledger at 1-1.

Then, in the 57th minute, they took the lead from another corner. This time it was a scramble in the goalmouth and it fell neatly for Siem de Jong at the back post.

Tratt eventually made his way onto the field for Aaron Calver (cramp) and added the finishing touch with a powerful header in the 81st minute. It was his first A-League appearance for the Sky Blues and one that he'll never forget. Nor will Janjetovic, as much as he'd like to.