In A-League of its Own: Round 8

Melbourne Heart has thrown away an early 2 goal lead to draw 3-3 with Newcastle at home on Saturday evening. Richard Garcia’s brace, which included a goal just 33 seconds into the game, was definitely one of the encouraging things to take out of the game which otherwise was a pretty disappointing performance from the Heart. Josip Tadic again scored from the penalty spot and had Heart 2-0 up inside 10 minutes; a lead which they would take into the break. However it was Newcastle and indeed former Heart player Craig Goodwin who responded for the Jets when he converted Ruben Zadkovich’s cross. Zadkovich then put his side level when he drove one home from long range with an alarming lack of pressure on his touch. Garcia managed to put Heart’s noses back in front soon after, when he finished a nice attacking move involving both Tadi? and Matt Thompson, only to be cancelled out by a Ryan Griffiths penalty won by James Virgili. The result gives Newcastle their first point in 4 games following their brilliant start to the season while Heart continues to sit among the bottom 3.

 

Sydney FC has again fallen at the last hurdle in their bid to register a point and has now conceded 16 goals in their past 4 games. It was this time Adelaide United who had the chance to rejoice at a late winner with Australian marquee Dario Vidosic netting his 5^th goal of the season with just 2 minutes of regular time remaining. Fabio Ferreira had put the Reds ahead in the first half before Yairo Yau restored parity with his second half strike. However it was Vidosic who again stole the show and now must be considered a certainty to be heavily in the frame for the Socceroos’ next World Cup Qualifying squad. As for Sydney, they continue to put in performances which will turn fans away from the game rather than fill the SFS with what appears to be a lot more than a lack of desire to win and compete. Most of the current players will be staring down the barrel in January when the transfer market opens up again; that is if they haven’t been sacked before it.

 

Melbourne Victory has shot up to 3^rd on the A-League table after a gutsy 2-0 win at Parramatta Stadium, playing with 10 men for the best part of 70 minutes. Youngster Sam Gallagher started in the centre of defence for the Victory before he was shown a red card for a pulling on Dino Kresinger’s arm as the last man. Gallagher was a bit stiff in the sense that he was leading the race for the ball before Kresinger appeared to clip the heels of the Victory youth product to get to the ball, and probably should have been adjudicated to have committed a foul. The Victory made some tweaks to their tactics and managed to stay well and truly in the game for the rest of the first half, capping it off by Wanderers captain Michael Beauchamp scoring an own goal. The second half brought much of the same as the Victory added to their lead on the counter attack through the familiar duo of Marco Rojas and Archie Thompson combining for the winner. The Victory now head into its next game at home to Perth with full confidence that they can get a result from any position.

 

Central Coast Mariners has defeated arch rivals Brisbane Roar 2-1 in a heated encounter which saw Besart Berisha yet again ignite some angry scenes. Bernie Ibini validated Graham Arnold’s decision to start him by opening the scoring 4 minutes into the game with a well-placed header which beat Michael Theo at his near post. Massimo Murdocca was responsible for the 1-1 score line at half-time with just his 3^rd A-League goal coming from distance after Thomas Broich decided to mix things up at a corner. After a relatively even second half, Tom Rogic again proved his worth with a well-taken volley with just 10 minutes to play.

 

Perth Glory and Wellington Phoenix have played out a 1-1 draw in a game which had 2 New Zealand internationals finding the net at Perth’s nib Stadium. Shane Smeltz had the hosts in front on his return just after the break before the in-form Jeremy Brockie earned the Phoenix a much needed point.