SYDNEY - Alessandro Del Piero came on as a late substitute but couldn't prevent Sydney FC from suffering its first-ever loss to crosstown rival Western Sydney in the A-League.

Former Juventus star Del Piero overcame a troublesome hamstring injury to join the match in the 70th minute, shortly before Western Sydney scored its second goal in a convincing 2-0 win.

Sydney's first loss under new coach Frank Farina left it anchored at the bottom of the A-League ladder with only 10 points from 11 matches.

Western Sydney's fifth win in its debut A-League season lifted it into fourth place behind Central Coast, Adelaide and the Melbourne Victory.

Central Coast beat the Melbourne Heart 2-0 to hold first place while Adelaide stayed second with a 3-1 home win over the Wellington Phoenix. The Victory remained third, one point ahead of Western Sydney, after a 1-1 draw with defending champion Brisbane, and Perth stayed fifth after beating Newcastle 3-0.

Western Sydney coach Tony Popovic hailed his team's win over Sydney, his former club, as one of the most important in its short A-League history.

"There have been a lot of milestones at this club from the first pre-season game, winning our first (A-League) game against Brisbane, now this one," Popovic said. "This was sweet. This was special. I certainly enjoyed that."

Western Sydney lost 1-0 to Sydney in the first A-League meeting but comprehensively reversed that result on Saturday. They created the lion's share of chances and, with more luck, would have won by a bigger margin.

Ethiopian-born midfielder Youssouf Hersi opened the scoring with his first league goal in the 24th minute and captain Michael Beauchamp sealed the win 13 minutes before fulltime.

"We matched them this time with intensity," Popovic said. "It just shows how much we've improved as a club, from round three to now. We're certainly on the right track."

Sydney had taken four points from Farina's first two matches as coach, after he was chosen to replace Ian Crook.

"We were outplayed tonight pretty much on all fronts," Farina said. "You've got to be honest about it.

"They were more enthusiastic and it's disappointing coming off the back of a good win last week and not being able to back it up, at least performance-wise."

Central Coast's Pedj Bojic scored both goals as the Mariners beat Melbourne Heart 2-0 to stay a point clear at the top of the table.

Bojic took advantage of a goalkeeping error to score his first in the 49th minute then netted his second from a free kick 20 minutes later to give Central Coast it's fourth-straight win.

Adelaide's Marcelo Carrusca scored in the 19th and 24th minutes and Fabio Ferreira added a goal in first half stoppage time as United opened a 3-0 halftime lead over Wellington. The Phoenix pulled a goal back through Dani Sanchez in the 81st minute.

Melbourne Victory goalkeeper Michael Theo pulled off a string of thrilling saves to earn his team a 1-1 draw with Brisbane.

Ben Halloran put Brisbane ahead in the 24th minute after a defensive blunder from Diogo Ferreira, but a goal four minutes into the second half by Mark Milligan secured a point for the Victory.

Perth's Travis Dodd scored on either side of halftime and Shane Smeltz added a third as the Glory overran Newcastle Jets.

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