Sydney has reclaimed top spot on the table, while Melbourne lost away for just the second time this year and Gold Coast stormed back to form with a 5-1 win over Brisbane.
Sydney has reclaimed top spot on the table, while Melbourne lost away for just the second time this year and Gold Coast stormed back to form with a 5-1 win over Brisbane.
Results – Round 20
GOLD COAST UNITED 5 Brisbane Roar 1
PERTH GLORY 4 Newcastle Jets 1
SYDNEY FC 1 Adelaide United 0
NORTH QUEENSLAND FURY 1 Melbourne Victory 0
Central Coast Mariners 0 WEELINGTON PHOENIX 2
Results – Round 19
SYDNEY FC 1 Central Coast Mariners 0
Game Wraps
Sydney has taken back top spot on the Hyundai A-League ladder from Melbourne after another 1-0 win, this time over Adelaide United.
Trailing Victory by three points a few days before Christmas, the Sky Blues notched a 1-0 win over Central Coast on December 23 in their midweek Round 19 encounter and then backed that up with a success over the Reds thanks to skipper Steve Corica on December 27.
Corica took on the Adelaide defence and secured all three points for his side with a goal in the 49th minute.
Later that night, North Queensland caused one of the great boilovers of the Hyundai A-League season when it prevailed over a lacklustre Melbourne outfit 1-0 at Dairy Farmers Stadium.
Dyron Daal justified the new deal offered to him by coach Ian Ferguson by scoring the only goal of the match in the 31st minute.
Gold Coast made a bold statement against local rival Brisbane, hammering them 5-1 on Boxing Day to move within two points of second-placed Melbourne.
Shane Smeltz snared his second hat-trick for the season scoring in the 50th, 61st and 77th minute while Kristian Rees bobbed up for the opener just before half time and a second on 53 minutes.
Brisbane had taken a 1-0 lead through Matt McKay in the seventh minute but was never in the contest in the second half.
Boxing Day also proved a bonanza for Perth Glory, with a 4-0 home win over Newcastle Jets. Jamie Harnwell finished with a brace while Naum Sekulovski and Mile Sterjovski added the others as the Glory moved within two points of fourth place.
The New Year’s Eve encounter between Central Coast and Wellington saw the only away win of the round as Paul Ifill fired a second-half double to give Ricki Herbert’s men their second away win of the campaign.
Weekend Goals Tally: 14
Attendances (total / average): 49351/9870
Goal of the Week – Dyron Daal
A sublime finish for the Netherlands Antilles striker saw him celebrate his new permanent deal with the Fury in style. He chested down a long cross from Robbie Fowler, turned sharply and fired past the stunned Melbourne defence for his third goal in two games.
Player of the Week – Paul Ifill
The Barbadian has been the best import in the league this year and he again bobbed up to secure a win for Wellington, this time away from home, with two goals in the second half against the Mariners.
One to Watch – Kristian Rees
In his previous spells with Adelaide and Wellington, Kristian Rees had never scored more than one goal in a season. But the defender scored two in ten minutes against Brisbane, in the latest turn upwards in what has been a rollercoaster season for club and player.
Leading Goalscorers After Round 21
18 – Shane Smeltz
9 – Robbie Fowler, Sergio Van Dijk
8 – Archie Thompson, Paul Ifill
7 – Carlos Hernandez
6 – Mark Bridge, Alex Brosque, Steve Corica, Matt Simon, Mile Sterjovski
5 – John Aloisi, Dyron Daal, Chris Greenacre, Branko Jelic, Reinaldo
4 – Michael Bridges, Tim Brown, Labinot Haliti, Victor Sikora, Jin-Hyung Song, Matt Thompson
3 – Cristiano, Rostyn Griffiths, Henrique, Jamie Harnwell, John Hutchinson, Daniel Mcbreen, Nik Mrdja, Lucas Pantelis, Wayne Srhoj, Nicky Travis
2 – Leo Bertos, Pedj Bojic, Cassio, Daniel Cortes, Jason Culina, Mate Dugandzic, Steven Fitzsimmons, Jason Hoffman, Adam Kwasnik, Matthew Leckie, Adrian Leijer, Matt Mckay, Charlie Miller, Adriano Pellegrino, Sasho Petrovski, Joel Porter, Kristian Rees, Sean Rooney, Nick Ward
1 – Alemao, Danny Allsopp, Costa Barbarouses, Fabian Barbiero, Andrew Barisic, Nigel Boogaard, Grant Brebner, Scott Bulloch, Isaka Cernak, Kofi Danning, Luke Devere, David Dodd, Travis Dodd, Ahmad Elrich, Ney Fabiano, Iain Fyfe, Brendan Gan, Chris Grossman, Troy Hearfield, Dean Heffernan, Todd Howarth, Adam Hughes, Matthew Kemp, Karol Kisel, Robbie Kruse, Dylan Macallister, Terry Mcflynn, Michael Mcglinchey, Tahj Minniecon, Milson, Craig Moore, Kevin Muscat, Jason Naidovski, Mitch Nichols, Tommy Oar, Lloyd Owusu, Tomislav Pondeljak, Naum Sekulovski, Ben Sigmund, John Tambouras, Danny Tiatto, Rodrigo Vargas, Jobe Wheelhouse, Alex Wilkinson, David Williams
