Weekend Wrap - Round 20
What a finish to the season we are set up for! The final four is decided, but who will finish as season three premiers is anyone’s guess.
Results MELBOURNE VICTORY 3 beat Wellington Phoenix 0 Central Coast Mariners 1 lost NEWCASTLE JETS 2 Queensland Roar 0 drew Sydney FC 0 PERTH GLORY 3 beat Adelaide United 2
Game Wraps Melbourne Victory-s late season resurgence continued with a comprehensive win over Wellington Phoenix. The win still gave them an outside of making the finals, but that was extinguished a day later by Newcastle win over the Mariners. However with the AFC Champions League still to play for, Melbourne-s form could be ominous for Sydney in the final game of the season and they will no doubt want to deny their fierce rivals the premiership. Melbourne were impressive and took the lead just on the half hour mark with the impressive Costa Rican Carlos Hernandez lashing home. Four minutes later Ward made it 2-0 with an emphatic finish from 15 yards and young star Kaz Patafta scored his first goal for the club with a brilliant finish from an acute angle. The loss left Wellington-s hopes of avoiding the wooden-spoon in the balance and must now beat Central Coast to have any hope of avoiding that scenario.
The Mariners have wasted another golden opportunity to win the Premiers Plate, going down 2-1 to arch rivals Newcastle Jets in another enthralling edition of the F3 Derby. In front of another record crowd at Bluetongue Stadium, the third home match in succession that a home record crowd has been in attendance, the match got off to a frenetic start, with both scoring inside the opening ten minutes. Young Central Coast product James Holland scored the first goal in the 6th minute for the Jets, starting and finishing the move, finishing past Danny Vukovic from 10 yards. The match though was all square three minutes later, when Adam Kwasnik went solo and got the better of Adam D-Apuzzo and lashed home a thunderbolt from the edge of the box that gave Ante Covic no chance. The match was decided in the Jets favour when leading goalscorer Joel Griffiths got the better of Paul O-Grady, went round Vukovic and stroked home his 11th goal of the season. The Mariners tried in vain to get a point, but were denied by stout defending and superb keeping by Covic.
The previous nights win by the Jets meant the final four were decided, but Queensland and Sydney now had the chance to make the most of the Mariners failure and go outright top with a win. However in front of nearly 32,000 fans at Suncorp Stadium, the match finished in a tight and disappointing stalemate, with neither side creating many good chances to score. Alex Brosque had a great chance early for Sydney but was denied by an excellent stop from young keeper Griffin McMaster. Tahj Minniecon was very lively for the Roar; giving Brendan Renaud a torrid time and may even had a claim for a penalty late in the first half. Queensland always looked the more likely and the arrival of Marcinho sparked the home side and twice within minutes had chances to score but was off target with the first and saw Clint Bolton save the second. The result meant both teams jumped over Central Coast and Newcastle on goal difference, with Queensland in the box seat with a +6 goal difference, ahead of Sydney +4.
The final match of the round was only a matter of pride for Perth and Adelaide and with the pressure off in some ways, the 8,000+ fans at Members Equity Stadium, were treated to a terrific match of attacking football, especially by the home side. Having nearly scored in the opening minutes though, Perth suddenly found themselves down a goal, when Bruce Djite pounced after a Nathan Burns shot was blocked into his path and he turned and hit a low shot past Jason Petkovic, The lead didn-t last long however, with the dangerous Billy Celeski delivering a telling cross into the six-yard box and James Robinson slide to ball home. Nikita Rukavytsya was proving a thorn to the Adelaide defence and on the stroke of half time, he showed his pace, neatly turning Angelo Costanzo near the half way line and then tearing towards goal, where he neatly finished past Eugene Galekovic from 15 yards. Perth started the second half in much the same vein, but were hit by a sucker-punch from Adelaide captain Travis Dodd, who scored a magnificent goal from nothing with a thumping shot from outside the box. But Adelaide-s joy was short-lived when Stan Lazaridis pick-pocketed the ball from Richard Alagich and produced a trademark cross fro Jamie Harnwell, who easily guided his shot past a hapless Galekovic. The win saw Perth leapfrog Wellington into 7th place, ahead on goal difference and confident they can avoid the wooden spoon.
Goals Tally: 11
Card Count: 12 yellows - 0 reds
Attendance/Average: 84,685 / 21,171 (new Hyundai A-League record for total aggregate / average for a single round)
Goal of the Week Hard to go past Travis Dodd-s magnificent strike or Nikita Rukavytsya-s individual effort, but in terms of importance Joel Griffiths gets the nod. He has been the catalyst for the Jets all season and in career-best form and he couldn-t have picked a better time to score, racing onto a long ball, holding off one defender and then rounding Danny Vukovic and slotting home. It was the Jets most important goal of the season and further highlighted Griffiths importance and class to the Jets team.
Player of the Week Nikita Rukavytsya-s effort was tremendous for Perth, but Ante Covic has been a rock at the back for Newcastle this season and was again on Saturday night. He might have been disappointed with the Mariners goal, but most goalkeepers would not have saved Kwasnik-s shot, he perhaps pulled off the save of the season in the second half. With the Mariners pushing for an equaliser, a cross from Andre Gumprecht was flicked on by a Jets player to the far post. Mariners marksmen John Aloisi was there and did the right thing by heading back from where Covic was coming from. Somehow Covic managed to fling out a hand and divert the ball onto the crossbar, where it was cleared away to safety.
One to Watch I mentioned the efforts of Griffin McMaster last week, well once again he showed that is an outstanding talent. Made a magnificent stop to prevent Alex Brosque opening the scoring early in the match for Sydney and from then on looked assured and confident in his work between the sticks for Queensland. He has given his coach Frank Farina plenty to think about leading into the finals, with Liam Reddy due back possibly as early as next week from his injured thumb.
Leading Goalscorers 11 Joel Griffiths (Newcastle Jets) 9 Shane Smeltz (Wellington Phoenix) 7 Alex Brosque (Sydney FC), Jamie Harnwell (Perth Glory) 6 Archie Thompson (MV), Danny Allsopp (MV), John Aloisi (CCM), Nikita Rukavytsya (PG), Reinaldo (QR), Sasho Petrovski (CCM)