Hyundai A-League Finals Review

The official FFA Hyundai A-League Finals Series Review

Finals series review

Week1:

Melbourne 2-1 Sydney

The first match of the finals series saw Melbourne Victory put one foot in the final after beating Sydney 2-1 at home in front of just under 19,000 fans. First half goals from Nik Mrdja and Carlos Hernandez got Melbourne over the line but the Minor Premiership winners didn-t lie down after Aloisi-s goal setup a tense second half.

Tensions reached boiling point when Mrdja was red-carded 18minutes from time but the home side managed to hang on and take the advantage to the second leg in Sydney. The sides seem to be exchanging blows this season, with Sydney winning just a couple of weeks ago to secure the title.

The tie sets up a mouthwatering match in Sydney where the hosts would only need a 1-0 win to set up a home final.

Gold Coast 0-0 Newcastle (pens 6-5 to Newcastle)

After being all square after 120 minutes, Newcastle managed a dramatic 6-5 penalty shootout win to break Gold Coast hearts and sneak through to the next round of the finals series.

With the shootout locked at 5-5, Jin-Hyung Song blazed over for the Jets leaving the door open for Gold Coast defender Kristian Rees to secure the win. Rees sent his shot wide and after Nikolai Topor-Stanley converted his spot-kick it was up to Caravella to keep the match alive.

But Jets excellent keeper, capped off a great performance with an impressive save to deny Caravella and send the miserly 4,000 crowd home unhappy. A tight game ended in drama but saw Newcastle facing the winners of the Wellington Perth match in New Zealand.

Wellington 1-1 Perth (Welli win on pens 4-2)

Wellington Phoenix made sure they would be hosting Newcastle Jets at fortress Welli in the next round of the finals series in two weeks time after another finals match ended penalties.

With both sides level at 1-1 after 120 minutes, keeper Liam Reddy sent the yellow army into raptures after his saves from Sekulovski and Bulloch ensured his side would make it into the next round.

The Phoenix ended up 4-2 winners in the shootout and a crowd of just under 25,000 saw their side continue the club-s historic venture into the finals. Despite taking the lead through Greenacre in the 37th minute, the home side were pegged back after Neville levelled for Perth.

It was no surprise that the match was a close encounter after the previous two matches this season were tight affairs and both sides had good chances to win it. The only way to split them was the cruel penalty shootout that ended up in Wellington being better on the day.

Week2:

Wellington 3-1 Newcastle

Two goals in extra time saw Wellington Phoenix make it to their first ever Preliminary final after the scores were all square on 90 minutes. Paul Ifill and Eugene Dadi earned the kiwi side a deserved matchup with one of the two A-league big guns, Sydney FC or Melbourne Victory.

Matt Thompson stunned the crowd of just under 33,000 when he gave Newcastle the lead after 20 minutes. The equaliser finally came in the 33rd minute and was the result of some dogged work by striker Chris Greenacre who managed to curl the ball past Ljubo Milicevic.

The victory stretched the unbeaten run at Westpac Stadium to 19 matches which is the best in the A-League, seems that sides who jump the ditch just can-t beat the kiwis on home turf! However, the yellow army would have to travel to Sydney to see if they could make the grand final.

Sydney 2-2 Melbourne

Melbourne Victory made sure the Grand Final was going to be on home soil after a controversial Archie Thompson extra-time goal ensured that they had a week to prepare for the final.

With the two-leg tie deadlocked at 3-3 after both 90 minutes had finished 2-1 to each home side, extra time was required to see who would have home advantage come final day.

Melbourne captain Kevin Muscat caught the Sydney defence napping with his quick free-kick to Thompson who met the pass first time and send the visitors into their third final in four seasons.

The result sent the Victorian contingent into party-time and Sydney had to plan for the visit of the kiwis.

Week3:

Sydney 4-2 Wellington

Sydney moved into the final in controversial style which wasn-t shown in the 4-2 scoreline. A disputed hand ball by Sydney in the build up to their vital goal left a sour taste in the mouth for the kiwi support but in truth Sydney came out as fair winners.

Despite Durante-s 27th minute goal pegging Sydney back with the scores at 1-1. It took only another four minutes for the sky blues to get back on top when Payne grabbed his second of the day in the 31st minute.

Then a ball into the box and what looked like a header from Chris Payne put Sydney back in front. Closer inspection via replays though showed that he used his hand to put the ball in and a usually quiet Wellington coach Rikki Herbert was left fuming after the game.

Sydney carried on to add another two goals before Wellington got their consolation in the last ten minutes but the game will be remembered for the hand ball that put Sydney in front…

Grand Final:

Sydney 1-1 Melbourne (Sydney win pens 4-2)

After a long season starting in August, the final certainly wasn-t a let down and anybody at the game went home knowing they had their money-s worth from the match and the season as a whole.

We all know what happened here, full house, heartbreak for Archie Thompson, Sydney edge it on penalties…. Need I say more?

The final stage was set with an almost full-house at the Etihad stadium, the A-League-s top two and best supported clubs (although Wellington may have something to say about that with their final-s attendances…).

A nervy and tight first half saw a few chances and unfortunately for Victory, Archie Thompson injured his ACL. There were few clear cut chances as both sides cancelled each other out.

The major event of the game came early in the second half when Melbourne thought they-d scored but after it was correctly ruled offside, Sydney raced up the other end and Bridge scored in front of the delirious Sydney end.

Melbourne came back into the game later on though and despite Sydney missing the best chance of the game, they were level on 81 minutes when Leijer made it 1-1. Victory then looked like they were going to win it and went in the ascendancy for the last 10 minutes.

Despite wave after wave off attacks, the full-time whistle couldn-t come soon enough for Sydney. Extra-time was more similar to the rest of the game when both sides cancelled each other out.

Eventually, the cruel penalty shootout came and when Mr. reliable Kevin Muscat missed his penalty it looked like it was going to be Sydney-s day. Departing keeper Clint Bolton played a massive role in the shootout and Sydney came out 4-2 winners.

What drama, what a day and what a season. Can-t wait to see it all over again starting in April, just got that little tournament in South Africa to get out of the way first!