Brisbane Roar has returned to the winners list after adding further misery to what is now being described as the worst start to a Sydney FC season; winning 4-2 at Suncorp Stadium. Even Alessandro Del Piero’s delightful 2 goals couldn’t carry the rest of his team who looked shambolic in defence as has been the case for the majority of the season so far. Tomas Broich and Erik Paartalu scored 2 in 3 minutes after the hour mark for the Roar as they appeared to have a handy lead going into the break; however Del Piero’s strike from the edge of the area put that into some doubt before Ben Halloran duly restored Brisbane’s 2 goal advantage in injury time. Del Piero added a second goal for Sydney just after the 2 teams returned after playing the ball off Yairo Yau before Besart Berisha made it 4-2 after walking past 3 defenders. The result would have to harm their chances of getting one of the big-named managers that they’ve been linked to over the last 2 weeks.
Danny McBreen has again played a large part in securing the Mariners a favourable result after his 2 goals was cancelled out by a 3rd goals of the season for both Andrew Nabbout and Mark Milligan. Victory’s crowd of a touch under 20,000 witnessed 2 completely different halves, both entertaining, which saw 2 goals and 1 red card for each team. McBreen put the Mariners ahead 4 minutes in when he deflected a cross past Nathan Coe before Marco Rojas capped off his brilliant start with a pinpoint cross to Nabbout, who made no mistake with the finish. McBreen restored the Mariners’ lead soon after when he took advantage of a long ball poorly defended by Victory’s central pairing of Petar Franjic and Adrian Leijer and rifled it past Coe. Mark Milligan made the score 2-2 with a well-executed header from Isaka Cernak’s cross. The game turned on its head just after half-time when Mariners defender Patrick Zwaanswijk picked up a second yellow card for a stray elbow which struck Marcos Flores in the side of the head. Rojas continued his outstanding game and was instrumental in the constant attacking that his team did; however it wasn’t to be. Flores also received a second yellow very late in the game which soured the result somewhat for the home side.
Melbourne Heart has fallen victim to a very solid defensive effort from Adelaide United in their 1-0 defeat at Hindmarsh Stadium. Jeronimo Neumann took advantage of a defensive error by Heart and his heavily deflected shot was one that Clint Bolton could only watch as he was sent sprawling in the opposite direction. Eugene Galekovic only had to make one save for the whole game, highlighting both Heart’s incompetence to create any meaningful chances and the Reds’ strength down back.
Jeremy Brockie has continued his impressive start to life at Wellington with a double in the Phoenix’s surprise 3-0 win away to his former club Newcastle. His first goal came against the run of play on the stroke of halftime and his second was just as good; heading the ball over substitute keeper Matt Nash who came on for a concussed Mark Birighitti not long before. Paul Ifill completed the scoring with a penalty after Josh Mitchell picked up only a yellow card when he brought down young gun Benjamin Totori from behind and by doing so denied him a scoring opportunity.
Western Sydney Wanderers has again caused an upset, this time beating Perth Glory in Perth 1-0 and doing so with 10 men for the majority of the game. Iacopo La Rocca found the net 15 minutes in; however after Youssouf Hersi lashed out at Scott Jamieson after his initial rash tackle and picked up a red card, it was a backs to the wall job for the visitors. Ante Covic did his bit to keep the Wanderers ahead with 2 brilliant saves, while former Heart player Adrian Zahra’s blushes were spared in the final seconds when he missed an open goal that fortunately for him wouldn’t have counted anyway. Western Sydney is now level on points in the top 6 with the Glory, who after a bright start, are beginning to slide.
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.
I reckon “lashed out” is a bit harsh although that appears to be the ref’s interpretation. Jamieson was in his space, he was injured, so he nudged him away – it was a poor “red”. West Sydney were brave and will be weary when the Victory arrive to take them on next week.