Sydney FC have beaten rivals Western Sydney Wanderers 3-1 at the Allianz Stadium, despite going behind early in the second half.

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The home side started strongly with Ranko Despotovic denied by Ante Covic with eight minutes on the clock.

Despite that early effort both defences were on top, although Vedran Janjetovic did keep out a long-range blast by midfielder Youssouf Hersi.

The second half was just three minutes old when the Wanderers broke the deadlock. A cross was played in from the left and Shinji Ono fired the ball past Janjetovic.

A foul by Richard Garcia on Hersi then gave the away side the chance to double their lead from the penalty spot. However, Mark Bridge's spot kick was pushed away by Janjetovic.

Sydney made the most of that reprieve with an equaliser just eight minutes later. Nikola Petkovic's free kick was missed by Covic, a mistake that allowed Matthew Jurman to bundle the ball home for his first A-League goal.

The turnaround was complete with just over 15 minutes remaining when Garcia rolled the ball into an empty net after intercepting Michael Beauchamp's back pass.

A late handball by Jerome Polenz in the penalty area then gifted Sydney a third goal as Alireza Abbasfard converted from 12 yards.