In A-League of its own – Festive Season edition

Tom’s weekly outlook on the A-League

The Christmas period can bring joy or suffering for clubs, with the busy schedule not helped when it’s just over halfway through the season, and everyone is vying for finals or premiership honours. Ladder leaders Brisbane came through their festive season undefeated. They managed to draw 2-2 with Gold Coast in the bizarrely named M1 derby, and then put themselves further ahead of the pack with a solid 1-0 win over Adelaide at Hindmarsh. Adelaide themselves managed to pick up 6 points from their 3 games, losing to Central Coast but defeating Sydney at the SFS. Both they would’ve expected to get points from, but now find themselves slipping further behind Brisbane.

Sydney are finally off the bottom of the table, after defeating Newcastle on their turf. But they also dropped points to Adelaide and Melbourne Heart, who, like their cross-town rivals, are now beginning to show good finals form. First, the Heart defeated Sydney at the SFS, when Adrian Zahra scored the only goal with 5 minutes left on the clock. Then, they comfortably beat North Queensland at AAMI Park 2-0, with goals to both John Aloisi and Gerald Sibon. The Victory on the other hand, have gained former front man Danny Allsopp on a 27 month contract, which will probably see him though to retirement. Against Newcastle and the Mariners, they managed to snare 6 points by scoring 2 late goals in each of the games. In the Mariners game, Central Coast were right to feel aggrieved when Adam Kwasnik was dismissed just before Melbourne netted their late 2, for seemingly not much.

Wellington hosted the in form Victory on Wednesday, and coming off a very long trip to North Queensland, and managing a respectable 1-1 result, their recent home form against the Victory was predicted to maybe get them over the line. The Victory, without stalwart Kevin Muscat and prolific forwards Robbie Kruse and Archie Thompson, preceded to go on and produce the worst performance of any Victory side ever. Although Wellington did play quite well, the Victory midfield continually lost the ball, and put pressure on the make-shift defence. Tom Pondejlak was shuffled to right-back, and was completely outplayed by young Marcos Rojas, who not only scored, but delivered over 25 balls into the area, of which just 1 was converted.

Perth played just the one game over the period, and they didn’t hit the back of the net, but their defence held up well against an also defensive Gold Coast, keeping a clean sheet in a 0-0 stalemate. The Gold Coast look to be a top 4 side, but will need to start winning against teams like Perth, who are out of the finals race.

The A-League ladder after 21 weeks stands at this:

1. Brisbane Roar – Played 24 – 51 pts

2. Adelaide United – Played 24 – 40 pts

3. Central Coast Mariners – Played 21 – 36 pts

4. Gold Coast United – Played 21 – 35 pts

5. Melbourne Victory – Played 23 – 32 pts

6. Melbourne Heart – Played 24 – 30 pts

7. Wellington Phoenix – Played 23 – 29 pts

8. Newcastle Jets – Played 21 – 25 pts

9. Sydney FC – Played 23 – 21 pts

10. Perth Glory – Played 23 – 21 pts

11. North Queensland Fury – Played 23 – 19 pts

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

    Tom – awful display from the Victory this past week. We’ve gone from a potential home final to possibly missing out altogether.

    Caught two games at AAMI Park over Christmas for two wins. The win over the Jets was brilliant. Fantastic stadium, not a bad seat in the house.

    Adelaide and Brisbane are the clear favourites now. I have a feeling it could be the Reds’ year.

  2. Like the cricketers, is this the time to clear the decks at the Viuctory…the Muscat faction needs cleansing?

  3. If only Adelaide could field all its better players at the same time. I think the Muscat era (& style) is over & same for the Victory coach perhaps.

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