Borrello called Sydney’s performance “bang average” after they claimed a plucky 1-0 win over the Wanderers a month ago. That appraisal would have been accurate here. His magnificent ball in the 13th minute completely took Sydney’s disjointed rearguard out of the picture and put Layouni through on goal. He in turn slipped it to Kusini Yengi, the scorer of the decisive goal in the last Allianz derby, to tap away into an empty net.

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Yengi wheeled away in celebration, taking off his jersey and parading his name and number in front of the Cove, who rained projectiles down on him – mostly the two-toned blue cloths they waved during their tifo display.

Eight minutes later, it was Ninkovic’s turn to split them open, and again it was way too easy. His slide-rule pass found Layouni, who held off Joel King’s feeble challenge before prodding the ball past Andrew Redmayne.

Western Sydney seemed happy to sit back from that point, content in the knowledge that they would not be troubled by whatever Sydney offered in attack. It took half an hour before the hosts fired their first shot on target, and it was more hopeful than anything else from Joe Lolley on the narrowest of angles. A series of speculative crosses to no one, unsurprisingly, yielded nothing.

With Max Burgess suspended and Spanish left-back Diego Caballo ineffectual on the wing, Sydney huffed and puffed but only hot air came out. To add injury to insult, James Donachie came off midway through the first half with an apparent hamstring strain. His replacement Jack Rodwell – the former Wanderer – added little in the way of structural integrity at the back.

Nieuwenhof’s goal was the most painful, and not just because Ninkovic provided the assist. Afforded far too much room by Paulo Retre – a midfielder who Corica clearly rated ahead of him – the 22-year-old took a ping from the edge of the box and found the top corner. The Red and Black Bloc exploded in ecstasy, and did so again when Layouni completed his brace. For them, this was the stuff of dreams; for Sydney, a nightmare in every possible sense.

“Very disappointing, obviously. We knew how important the game was,” Corica said. “If you look at the stats, they all look positive. But they were just way better than us in the final third.”

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