A League - Week 2 Review

Week two of Australia’s premier football league has been and gone so here are the details of the games.

Adelaide United v Melbourne Victory opened the weekend’s fixtures in front of 33,000 fans at the Adelaide Oval. A tight claustrophobic midfield battle on a hard fast pitch looked to have been won for the home team when they took the lead with just five mins left to play.

Sergio Cirio took advantage of space behind stand-in Melbourne right back Milligan to cut back onto his right and finish to the far corner with a curling effort. However four minutes later a Melbourne corner fell to Ben Khalifallah who volleyed to the roof of the net from six yards to level the scores and share the points.

Saturday afternoon brought us Central Coast Mariners v Wellington Phoenix. Phoenix are most people’s tip for the wooden spoon this season but they claimed all three points and scarpered back to NZ laughing all the way. It all looked to be going to plan as after just 12 minutes Mariners took the lead through an OG from Tom Doyle. In fairness to Phoenix they fought back and Jeremy Brockie earned them a penalty, he picked himself up for the spot kick but hit the bar, happily for him Michael McGlinchey reacted quickest to steer the rebound home with his head. It got better still for the kiwi visitors as Nathan Burns finished off a lovely Phoenix move in the second half to claim the points.

The big game of the weekend rolled around on Saturday night when an incident packed Sydney derby game was played out in front of over 41,000 supporters. Western Sydney Wanderers raced into a 2-0 lead with goals from Mark Bridge and an embarrassing own goal from Sydney keeper Vedran Janjetovic inside the first 25 minutes. The fight back started just before half time when in form youngster Corey Gamerio benefitted from a beautiful back heel from Alex Brosque to finish to the far corner from the edge of the box.

Four minutes into the second half Sasa Ognenovski claimed a controversial leveller. His scuffed effort bobbled towards goal through a crowd of players and between the legs of striker Bernie Ibini who was clearly in an offside position and had to have been interfering with the Wanderers keepers’ line of sight. Inexplicably the goal was allowed to stand and things were to get even worse yet for the Wanderers and their rabid supporters. Vitor Saba was rewarded with a straight red for a wild lunge on Terry Antonis, he also got a clip around the back of the head in the following scuffle from Ognenovski which will surely bring further sanction for the Sydney player. All of the momentum was with Sydney and a neat finish from Brosque, albeit aided and abetted by slack defending settled the game for the blue clad team and their delirious hordes of followers.

Sunday brought us money bags Melbourne City v Newcastle Jets, surely a home win? Imagine our surprise when the Jets took the lead against the run of play through a near post header from Edson Montano on 62 minutes. Further chances were spurned by the Jets to settle the game in their favour before another clinical finish from David Villa rescued a point for the home team. The good news for Irish fans was that Damien Duff was heavily involved in the goal. The worrying news for City fans is that despite overwhelming possession they are struggling to create clear cut opportunities, playmaker Robert Koren will be injured for the next six weeks and David Villa will be heading off to the States after just four weeks with them instead of the planned ten.

Perth Glory brought the curtain down on the entertainment when they took on Brisbane Roar. The Western Australian outfit claimed a 3-2 victory and along with it top spot in the league. Andy Keogh put in a man of the match performance claiming a hat trick with two close range headers and a deflected left foot shot. Glory twice came from behind and Keogh’s injury time winner was no more than they deserved. The result was perhaps a little harsh on Henrique who scored a wonderful second goal for the Roar with a rocket from the edge of the box.

What have we learned?

The appetite for football seems to be insatiable at the moment with over 106,000 fans trooping through the turnstiles, admittedly this was on the back of two record breaking attendances at Adelaide and Sydney but impressive none the less. With the Melbourne derby coming up this weekend attendances should be healthy enough again this weekend.

The Sydney derby played in a wonderful atmosphere hosted thrills and spills a plenty but also had an undercurrent of niggle that would have made the Serbia v Albania game look hospitable, friendly city rivals they ain’t.

This week’s fixtures

Brisbane Roar v Sydney

Melbourne Victory v Melbourne City

Adelaide United v Perth Glory

Wellington Phoenix v Newcastle Jets

Western Sydney Wanderers v Al Hilal in the Asian Champions League final.