Tom’s weekly outlook on the A-League
Melbourne Victory has moved to 3rd on the A-league table with a dramatic 3-2 win at home to Gold Coast on Sunday. The North End’s “You’ll be sacked in the morning” chant directed at Mehmet Durakovic was quickly extinguished less than a minute into the game, when an aggressive Archie Thompson was brought down in the box. Harry Kewell then convincingly scored for his first ever Victory goal. For the next 15 minutes, the Victory was on top of Gold Coast, and won their second penalty 23 minutes into the match. This time it was Carlos Hernandez, who took the spot kick, but the result was the same, and the Victory’s 2-0 lead looked nearly unassailable. But just after the Victory’s second goal, Rodrigo Vargas made an unnecessary and crude challenge in the midfield on Golgol Mebrahtu, and was appropriately shown a red card. With that, it seemed that the Victory’s 2-0 lead was under threat. 1 minute out from half-time, Diogo Ferreira fouled Mebrahtu inside the box for a Gold Coast penalty, which Dylan Macallister converted. 3 minutes after the break, Ben Halloran’s run down the right got him past Fabio, and his resulting cross into the box found Peter Jungschlarger, who slotted the equaliser. By this stage, it looked a matter of when the Gold Coast would take the lead. But Victory kept on pressing, and despite having just one recognised defender on the pitch, they took the lead through Carlos Hernandez. Archie Thompson’s dinky ball over the top of 3 Gold Coast defenders met the head of Hernandez, who was able to set the AAMI Park crowd alight (not least myself) with a rare header. That goal was enough for the Victory, who walked away with the vital 3 points.
The Brisbane Roar’s run of undefeated games has reached 36 after their historic 4-0 demolition of Perth Glory at the weekend. The Roar has now eclipsed the record of games undefeated in Australian professional sport. The win was set up in the first half, with 2 goals each to Besart Berisha and Issey Nakajima-Farran. The second of the game was a marvelous bit of work by Nakajima-Farran, who received a delightful ball with a great first touch and textbook chip over a hapless Danny Vukovic.
Melbourne Heart has slipped out of the top 6 with a 3-1 loss away to Central Coast Mariners. Matt Simon’s first half goal came right on the stroke of halftime, and deflated the hopes of the Heart players. Heart got one back 78 minutes in through Eli Babalj, and it looked as though the visitors were the more likely to get the win at that point. But unfortunately, the refs had their say in the final result yet again. 5 minutes after Babalj’s strike, he was penalised for a handball, which clearly came off his shoulder. Danny McBreen scored yet another penalty to put the Mariners back up. 2 minutes after, Patty Zwaanswijk headed the ball home for a 3-1 win to the Mariners.
Elsewhere, Tim Brown again scored at home for Wellington in their 2-1 win over Sydney FC. Paul Ifill and Bruno Cazarine were the other scorers for their respective clubs, but it was Brown who took the chocolates for goal of the week. 40 yards out, he won the ball in midfield, took a touch, and volleyed it perfectly over Liam Reddy. Finally, Adelaide United continued their poor start to the season with a 0-0 stalemate with Newcastle at Hindmarsh.
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.
That late Carlos goal has saved a lot of bile. Now they are talking up a brave, undermanned comeback and a “season defining” performance!
What’s with “team leaders” getting sent off…is that Muscat’s legacy of what a senior player should do?
Also, i have a theory on the Victory’s admirable performances when a man down. I suspect it makes the plethora of attackers actually have to get back and defend. It is an unbalanced list and send offs force players in to working harder.
Mic, Michael, Tom, others – any theories there?
Are you related to Chris Riorden of Hibernians fame?
Tom – Wasn’t what I’d call a convincing win. Have always had trouble getting points in Newcastle, a draw would satisfy me.
Ben – Did you mean Derek Riordan? When he went to Parkhead the then manager Gordon Strachan referred to him as the best finisher at the club. Surprisingly he rarely started him prefering to bring him off the bench. Currently playing in China.
Crio – Poor tackle from Roddy Vargas, could’ve done some serious damage. Perhaps they should consider starting with 10 on the field.
MCR
When are they allowed to buy a defender? Obviously they know the deficiency – remember the Colosimo chase. But it really does, to my ignorant eye, look to be a very unbalanced squad.
Still, confidence can work wonders.