A League - Week 18 Review

Cyclone Marcia made a big impact on the A League this week as well as the Queensland coastline when it caused the Brisbane Roar v Melbourne Victory game to be postponed.

Our attention switched next to the Allianz stadium where Sydney FC took on Central Coast Mariners, the home team claimed the points with a 4-2 victory that flattered them a little. Mariners had the first chance of the game in the eleventh minute when Nick Fitzgerald switched play with a forty yard diagonal ball to Isaka Cernak whos effort from the angle was saved by Vedran Janjetovic.

Marc Janko started the goal scoring ball rolling with a fourteenth minute opener for the Sky Blues, Milos Dimitrijevic swung in a left sided corner to the six yard box and the tallest player on the park was left virtually unmarked to head home. Mariners didn’t go into their shells and should have equalised in the twenty first minute when Fabio Ferreira squared to Fitzgerald six yards out but he rolled his effort narrowly wide.

Mariners did get their equaliser in the first added minute at the end of the first half, Anthony Caceres split the Sydney defence to send Portuguese striker Ferreira through on Janjetovic and he lifted the ball home with fine control. Mariners almost took the lead in the fifty third minute and again it was the combination of Montgomery and Ferreira to the fore with the latter forcing a save from Janjetovic.

Five minutes later though Ferreira put the visitors ahead Cernak brought the ball inside from the left and as he cut across the edge of the box leaving Sydney defenders trailing in his wake he squared to Ferreira in the inside right position who shot across Janjetovic to the far corner. Ten minutes later Sydney levelled matters, Alex Brosque laid the ball back to Rhyan Grant just under thirty yards out right of centre, the defender unleashed a swerving effort to the top corner for a peach of goal.

In the eighty first minute Sydney edged ahead, Bernie Ibini found space down the right to cross to the far post for Janko. The Austrian skipper chested down to Shane Smeltz  who created space for a shot by feinting to shoot not once but twice before neatly slotting home at the near post from six yards.

Sydney made the game safe in the ninety second minute when Alex Gersbach got to the goal line on the left hand side before pulling back to Janko six yards out to score his tenth league goal of the season and go equal top of the golden boot chart.

Adelaide United hosted Western Sydney Wanderers at Coopers Stadium where the home side left it late but emerged triumphant with a 2-1 win. Adelaide had a couple of decent chances making inroads down their left hand side to threaten Ante Covic in the Wanderers goal but the visitors opened the scoring in the nineteenth minute.

Eugene Galekovic puched clear a Nikita Rukavytsya free kick but didn’t manage to get the ball beyond the limits of the box, Brendon Santalab played it back in to the far post where Labinot Haliti had the easy task of sidefooting home unmarked.

Midway through the first half Wanderers nearly doubled their advantage when Iacopo La Rocca lifted a great ball over the top of the Reds backline to leave Rukavytsya facing Galekovic who managed to get a strong hand to the incoming shot and divert it over for a corner. Adelaide changed their formation at half time to go to a three man backline and put an extra man into midfield which changed the game completely.

The equaliser came in the fifty first minute when Marcelo Carrusca played a diagonal ball from the right to set Bruce Djite haring after it, Covic came out to the edge of the box but Djite got the crucial touch to send ball past him and into the back of the net. Over the remaining minutes of the half the Reds created clear cut chances for Sergio Cirio (three times) and Awer Mabil but they all went west.

Crucially Wanderers were reduced to ten men in the eighty third minute when Matthew Spiranovic received a second yellow for bullying Pablo Sanchez in the Adelaide box. The one way traffic continued and finally paid dividends in the ninety second minute, Tarek Elrich made inroads down the wide left before playing a ball inside the full back for Craig Goodwin to run on to, his pullback to the penalty spot was placed home by Cirio to sicken the visitors. So Wanderers remain in the bottom position while Adelaide hold third place within a win of the top spot.

Wellington Phoenix hosted Newcastle Jets at Hutt Recreation Ground and the odds were heavily stacked in the home teams favour, however it ended all square at 2-2 as somehow the visitors escaped with a point.

Goals have been a fairly rare commodity for the Jets this year and goals from corners an even rarer item, so imagine our surprise when they scored a brace of them inside the first eighteen minutes. A twelth minute corner from the right swung into the edge of the six yard box and Manny Muscat and Roly Bonevacia managed to get in each other’s way to such an extent that they headed the ball into their own goal.

Six minutes later the dose was repeated this time a left wing corner from Andrew Hoole was glanced home at the near post by Scott Neville. As has often been the case this season the Nix created plenty of chances but took none with Roy Krishna being a major offender. On forty two minutes Edson Montano should have made it 3-0 but headed against the foot of the post from close range.

The second half was one way traffic as chance after chance came and went for the home team, Krishna again being at fault but the worst offender was Nathan Burns who tried to back heel home from two yards and barely made contact to see the chance wasted.

The sinners redeemed themselves on sixty eight minutes Burns dropped a shoulder and powered to the goal line on the right, his low cross to the far post being met by Krishna to slide home. The pattern continued with incessant pressure eventually resulting in the dismissal of Ben Kantarovski for the visitors as the clock ticked down to full time.

In the ninety fourth minute Burns was hauled down twenty yards out right of centre, up stepped Jason Hicks to curl a left footed beauty over the wall and into the corner of the net to leave Ben Kennedy grasping at thin air. Jets remain in ninth place with Wanderers breathing down their necks while Phoenix stay in fourth position and look guaranteed finals football at the season close.

Melbourne City and Perth Glory brought down the curtain on the weekend with a totally forgettable 0-0 draw at Aami Stadium. Chances were in extremely short supply and Perth didn’t help matters by playing a very defensive line up. Kew Jaliens playing at right back for City having been shown the door at Newcastle missed possibly the best chance of the game when he headed wide early in the second half. Tando Velaphi smothered a half chance for Andy Keogh late on but the sooner this game is washed from the memory banks by a few cold ones the happier we will all be.

What have we learned?

Yet again we see the importance of taking chances when you create them as a hat full of spurned chances for Adelaide United and Wellington Phoenix very nearly cost them both dearly.

Next A League fixtures

Melbourne City v Adelaide United

Newcastle Jets v Central Coast Mariners

Western Sydney Wanderers v Sydney FC

Perth Glory v Brisbane Roar

Melbourne Victory v Wellington Phoenix