We take a look back at a thrilling Round 14, which saw Western Sydney Wanderers close the gap on Brisbane Roar at the top of the table.
We take a look back at a thrilling Round 14, which saw Western Sydney Wanderers close the gap on Brisbane Roar at the top of the table.
Newcastle Jets 1-1 Melbourne Victory
Newcastle and Melbourne Victory shared the spoils in the opening match of the Friday night double-header.
The home side was able to welcome Emile Heskey back into the side, but was missing Andrew Hoole and Adam Taggart to Olyroos duty. Likewise, Melbourne Victory was without Jason Geria, amongst others.
It was an own goal from Mitch Nichols that gave Newcastle Jets the lead in the minutes leading up to half-time.
It took only a few minutes of the second half for Victory to equalise, when Andrew Nabbout capped off a sweeping counter-attack with the goal to level the match.
Neither side was able to find a winning goal in an entertaining second 45 minutes.
Perth Glory 3-0 Melbourne Heart
When will it start to go right for Melbourne Heart? Their loss here equalled the Hyundai A-League record for most games without a win, 19, now held jointly by Heart and New Zealand Knights.
Stringing together a decent 90 minute performance seems to be their biggest issue and once again in Perth, they competed in patches. The arrival of John Van-t Schip was supposed to steady the ship but this was a poor follow up to their draw with Central Coast Mariners.
It was 0-0 until the 63rd minute, when Adrian Zahra cut inside from the left and unleashed a fabulous finish against his former club. It took the wind out of Heart sails and the last thing they needed to see at that point, was a fit-again Shane Smeltz entering as a substitute.
Heart-s own attacking substitute, Dylan Macallister, managed to pick up two yellow cards within ten minutes of his arrival. Smeltz showed how it was done, scoring two fantastic finishes to put the icing on the cake.
Brisbane Roar 1-2 Adelaide United
Adelaide United helped to bring Brisbane Roar back to the pack by scoring a late winner at Suncorp Stadium in the early game on Saturday evening.
Jeronimo Neumann gave Adelaide United the lead when he finished off a penalty rebound in the 21st minute and Brisbane had it all to do when Diogo Ferreira saw red for a second bookable offence shortly before half-time.
Besart Berisha came off the bench to equalise with ten minutes remaining and the goal revitalised Brisbane, who pushed hard for a winner in the final minutes.
They were caught out by a sucker-punch in the final moments though, as substitute Jordan Elsey rose highest at the back post to head in a cross from Michael Zullo.
Western Sydney Wanderers 1-0 Sydney FC
Wanderers and Sydney FC played out a hard-fought fifth edition of the Sydney derby in the second Saturday evening match at Pirtek Stadium.
Sydney FC hearts were broken late on when one of their former players, Brendon Santalab, scored a late winner in front of the RBB.
The first half never really settled into any sort of rhythm, in part down to the excellence of Terry McFlynn in the midfield screening role for Sydney FC and the loss to injury of Iacopo La Rocco for Wanderers.
Youssouf Hersi-s long range lob came back off the bar with Vedran Janjetovic and when the rebound fell to Tomi Juric, he didn-t have the composure to finish, smashing the crossbar from much closer range.
Sydney FC came to the fore in the second half, particularly after Corey Gameiro replaced the lethargic Brett Emerton. Gameiro-s pace was a constant threat to Wanderers back line.
But, when Hersi-s 87th minute shot was shanked to the back post, Pedj Bojic was snoozing, which allowed Santalab to take a touch and slide the ball beneath Janjetovic to steal the points.
Wellington Phoenix 1-1 Central Coast Mariners
“Windy Wellington” was as true an adage as ever as the blustery conditions at Westpac Stadium threatened to blow both teams way.
Both goals came in the first half as the spoils were shared, although Daniel McBreen-s horrible penalty in the second half should have won the game for Central Coast.
It was the Mariners who took the lead when some neat interplay ended with Matt Simon thrashing home a volley, giving Glen Moss no chance.
The visitors could-t quite make it to the break though. Kenny Cunningham, who was lively throughout, found the equaliser when his left footed shot from the edge of the area flew into the bottom corner, via a slight deflection off Trent Sainsbury.
The golden chance of the second half though, was McBreen-s penalty. Moss brought down Sainsbury, but McBreen smashed his penalty high and wide. It was a big let off and Wellington was indebted to Moss late on, when he made a strong one-on-one save to stop Mariners substitute, Adrian Caceres, from scoring the winner in the final minutes.
