In A-League of its Own 4 (2011/12)

 

Tom’s weekly outlook on the A-League

The Brisbane Roar has firmed as favourites to take out the A-League this season following their 7-1 demolition of Adelaide United at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night. Funnily enough, it was a come from behind win following Dario Vidosic’s early goal which put only a seed of doubt in the minds of Brisbane supporters. But they were then treated to the fastest ever A-League hat-trick by Besart Berisha, who scored in the 23rd, 26th and 29th minutes of the match. Henrique scored penalties either side of Berisha’s goals to have the defending champions go in to the break 4 goals up. An appropriately deflated Adelaide returned to the field after half-time, and they managed to not concede against the rampant Brisbane until the 69th minute, where Berisha bagged his fifth and his team’s sixth goal of the game. Albanian forward Issey Nakajima-Farran managed to get himself on the score sheet a minute from time following a brilliant team move which defined Brisbane’s night.

On the other end of the scale, Brisbane’s game week 5 opponents Melbourne Victory scored their first goals of the A-league season on Sunday in a 2-1 win at Wellington. Away from the pressure of the City of Melbourne, the Victory seemed more at ease in the Cake Tin, and Archie Thompson kept a 2 goal buffer over Shane Smeltz on the all-time A-League scoring charts with his lovely goal just before half-time. The Victory went 2 goals ahead 70 minutes in when Carlos Hernandez put an Archie Thompson-won penalty past Wellington’s keeper. Just 4 minutes later though, Dani Sanchez halved the Victory’s lead when he rifled a volley home from on the edge of the box. Melbourne managed to hold onto their lead, and could have extended it when Thompson’s perfectly good strike was ruled offside by the referee’s assistant.

Sydney FC made the trip to Melbourne to play against a winless and vulnerable Heart on Saturday night. In what was a pretty lacklustre game, Heart showed how vulnerable their midfield is on numerous occasions when Wayne Srhoj gave up the ball far too easily, or didn’t hassle his opposite number hard enough when he didn’t have the ball. There were no goals in the first half, and we had to wait until the 85th minute before a goal. Maycon found himself with the ball at his feet in the box, and managed to get enough room for himself to guide the ball past a desperate Liam Reddy. Sydney then obviously clicked into gear, and won themselves a very dubious corner deep into the 4 minutes of injury time. The initial ball found its way out to the back of the pack, and the resulting ball was deflected back out again to Boschaart who crossed it in to Nick Carle who scored the equalising goal. Heart can’t take a trick at the moment, and need some luck to lift themselves off of the bottom of the table.

Elsewhere, Travis Dodd’s early goal was eradicated by Matt Simon and Bernie Ibini-Esei in Perth to give Central Coast their first win for the season, whilst Gold Coast continued their promising early start to the season winning 3-1 at home against Newcastle.

This weekend, catch Melbourne Victory taking on league leaders Brisbane Roar at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night. My tip is Brisbane 3-1.

About Tom Riordan

Tom Riordan is in his second year of a Bachelor of Journalism at Swinburne University. He loves all sports, and plays for Brunswick Cricket Club. He supports the Western Bulldogs and can be found on weekends among half a dozen others in Q38 on the top level of the MCC.

Comments

  1. Martin Reeves says

    I watched the highlights of the Brisbane game from the weekend – suffice to say I’ve never seen anything like that in the A League.

    Good to see Melbourne notch a win, but I don’t think we’ll get there Brisbane this week. Hopefully another big crowd.

  2. Tom.

    Correct score (3-1), wrong way. Get on the Victory now.

    Speak highly of me when you collect.

    MCR

  3. Mic,
    I’m glad you are optimistic, but is there a justification for selecting a Victory win? Roar have been magnificent! Happy to hear anyone’s rationale for anything other than a soft Brisbane win.

  4. Crio.

    Law of averages, should’ve won both games at the Bubble in 10/11, gut feeling, and despite an ordinary start to the season I reckon Victory have a better team than last season.

    Hope I’ve convinced you.

    Surely Brisbane couldn’t go through undefeated – could they?.

    Gotta be a good team to win ’em all, wouldn’t you agree?

    MCR

  5. Mic, I heard a Yank comment last week about how strongly they ( and Hong Kong punters are huge on this) believe in getting “on a roll” – a “hot streak”.
    Aussies seem to think you “are due” – a loss is imminent.
    The Roar and Black Caviar are on fire…no tipping against them until signs of wobbling become apparent.

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