Welcome to Made With Mitre Moments, where aleagues.com.au brings you all the biggest talking points from each round of the 2024-25 Isuzu UTE A-League season.
It was an action-packed weekend with goals galore and drama – Adelaide United kept their unbeaten record intact before league-leading Auckland FC followed suit, while Western United prevailed in a seven-goal thriller and Macarthur Bulls stunned Wellington Phoenix – and there was so much more as season 2024-25 continued.
Read on for all the biggest talking points from Round 8, thanks to Mitre.
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Adelaide legend lauded after milestone game: ‘I keep telling him’
It was a memorable night for Adelaide United in more ways than one.
Not only did the unbeaten Reds crush two-time reigning champions Central Coast Mariners 4-0 for their first win in Gosford since 2019, but club legend Isaias Sanchez made history.
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The 37-year-old, who has established himself as a bona fide legend across two spells spanning nine years at Coopers Stadium, was in the starting XI at Industree Group Stadium, where Archie Goodwin, Panagiotis Kikianis, Stefan Mauk and Yaya Dukuly scored as Adelaide matched their best start to the season since 2014-15.
After the contest, head coach Carl Veart lauded Isaias having previously said the Spaniard is “the best player that’s represented the club over its long journey.”
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“He is the ideal professional. He sets a great example for our young players in that change room,” Veart told reporters.
“He has been a great servant for the club. I keep telling him he still has a couple of years left in him because you saw tonight, his first start in the midfield because he’s been in the back for us, he looked like when he (played his) first game for the club.
“His first game and last game so far – not much difference which is a great credit to himself.”
Ahead of this season, Adelaide confirmed Isaias would retire at the end of this season.
However, it sounds as though Veart may be trying to convince him to hang around!
Chiefy’s honest Phoenix assessment: ‘We’re going to re-evaluate’
Giancarlo Italiano said Wellington Phoenix must improve in their “team values and team culture” as he was left questioning the team’s belief after a surprise 2-1 loss at home to Macarthur Bulls.
The Phoenix suffered back-to-back defeats on Saturday as Dean Bosnjak’s first A-Leagues goal lifted the Bulls to victory at Sky Stadium.
Last season, Wellington made history en route to the Semi-Finals thanks to just one home defeat in the regular season, while they suffered a penalty shootout defeat to Melbourne Victory in a blockbuster final-four showdown after the tie was deadlocked on aggregate.
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This term, the Phoenix – who lost a number of star players in the off-season to overseas clubs – have only won one of their four home fixtures so far (L2 D1) and Italiano was honest in his assessment of the new-look side.
“Make of it what you want, maybe you can call it a bit of a hangover from last season,” he told reporters.
“I think the expectation in the group or the existing players might be feeling that or feeling as though we haven’t moved on from what we did last season. I know on my part, last year is last year, I don’t touch on that.
“It’s disappointing you know, at home you have to be strong. You see Auckland, they’re top of the table and won every game at home. It’s very important. Last season we prided ourselves on making this a fortress, exploiting the fact that teams travel.”
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Asked where the biggest growth areas are for the team, Italiano – whose ‘Nix are sixth in the standings and nine points off the pace – replied: “I think the most important is the team values and team culture.
“I have no problem losing if a coach or team have a certain way of playing and they play to that strength and win, credit to them.
“What I can’t forgive is where I think there is a lack of belief in the playing group. Once we conceded, I didn’t think we’d ever score. it was just a feeling. Last season I had that feeling we were always in the game.
“Again, there needs to be a common thread within the whole playing group. That could be a lack of maturity in terms of the new playing group. It could be that sometimes the senior players think it’s just a carryover of last season and things are going to work. Unfortunately that’s not the way football works. You have to consistently prove yourself.
“I’m going to go back and take some steps. We’re going to re-evaluate what our core beliefs are and what’s going to push us to that next stage. In the end what I want to see is, I can lose every game. I’ve had seasons where I’ve had teams struggle to get a win but the belief in the group was always there, that they would always try up until the 90th minute.
“That’s a feeling that is transmitted I think not only within the playing group but also to the fans. That is a big thing because they pay their hard-earned money to come to the game and keep the club afloat.
“They want to see the players are always giving 100%. I’m not saying we gave up today, far from it. I’m just saying the real belief wasn’t there.”
‘It was an emotional roller-coaster’
For the neutrals, Saturday night’s shootout between Western United and Sydney FC was wild and chaotic. For Western head coach John Aloisi, it pretty much went as expected.
It was the first time Western scored four goals away to Sydney since entering the competition, while it was only the fifth time the 2021-22 champions had scored four or more goals in an A-Leagues fixture on the road.
“It was an emotional roller-coaster. There were so many good moments for us and them,” Aloisi said in his press conference.
“We knew it would be tough because they have so many good players going forward, and they’re hard to stop at times. But we knew if we played our way, we will be able to create chances and I thought we did that.”
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After opening the scoring in the third minute via Noah Botic, Western found themselves 2-1 down at half-time before Abel Walatee struck within a minute of the second half kicking off.
After Rhys Bozinovski and Sky Blues captain Rhyan Grant traded goals, Ruhs stepped up to see Western climb up to eighth and within a point of the top six.
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“There were a couple of messages at half-time, a couple of tactical things,” Aloisi said.
“We thought that Sydney were also able to get us on the counter-attack quite a bit so we had to make sure we were aware of that and how we could play through their press. If we did, how quickly we could go down the other end and create chances.
“I said to them to just keep going right until the end because there will be something there for you right to the end. That was the message.”
‘Tremendous’ two-goal star grabs headlines
Western Sydney Wanderers and Brisbane Roar played out a 2-2 draw, but the game was another reminder of Brandon Borrello’s quality.
The Western Sydney captain’s first-half brace, which included a stunning free-kick, grabbed the headlines at CommBank Stadium, where Brisbane were criticised for their perceived “time-wasting” antics in the second half.
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An injury-ravaged 2023-24 saw the Socceroos forward score just one goal in 15 appearances, but he already has four in seven A-Leagues matches this term.
“Look it’s not just the goals, it’s the work he puts in for the team. The selflessness. He is a tremendous leader on the field,” Wanderers head coach Alen Stajcic told reporters.
“The goals are obviously what he’s here for and what we require from him but the other things for me are even more important.
“He has put that in every week for us, whether he has scored goals or not. He’s just a tremendous person to have in the team. He’s so important for us.”
City boss’ reaction to youngster’s error
Aurelio Vidmar threw his support behind Melbourne City youngster Patrick Beach after his costly error in Sunday’s 2-2 draw against league-leading Auckland FC.
The 21-year-old, who has been preferred to veteran Jamie Young this season, was also in the spotlight in Round 2 following his error in the derby against Melbourne Victory.
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“Look, we know young keeper, first senior games this season,” City head coach Vidmar explained. “I said at the beginning of the season, we know he will make mistakes. He has to learn and grow.
“You better be a green tomato, rather than a red tomato. Growing is part of it. The more you’re in there, the more games you play, the better you will become. That’s not just him but all the young players.
“We always want the finished product, don’t we? But it’s not the reality of sport. He’s obviously going to be, all the younger players, the more games they play, they will become different players and better players as time goes on.”
With another Melbourne Derby looming on Saturday night, Vidmar was asked if he backed the young shot-stopper for the blockbuster showdown.
“Just finished a game. Going to have a sleep,” he laughed.
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Pressed further on Beach’s position with Young on the bench, Vidmar added: “I don’t know what’s going to happen, we have a short turnaround.
“But we did make a decision this season. You don’t know what’s going to happen in terms of any particular game, there might be a change. But we made the decision and we know we’re going to have to put up with some of those errors.
“He just needs to grow, learn from it and be better next time.”
Memorable weekend for Jets recruit who helped snap skid
Rob Stanton was full of praise for Ben Gibson after the young gun scored two goals in a 4-0 rout to end Newcastle Jets’ four-game losing streak.
The 21-year-old, starting just his fourth match, scored two goals in 20 minutes to inspire Newcastle’s biggest win away from home since crushing Brisbane Roar 6-1 in 2019.
“He is a top kid,” Stanton said of Gibson. “I watched him during his season and he was scoring goals.
“A kid like that who comes in – I’ve had to throw him earlier than I wanted to do. Then you have Justin Vidic who is young as well and has had a year’s training and Ben hasn’t but he is coping well.
“A couple of assists too. I’m really happy for him because he played a bit isolated at times against two big strong defenders. He found space and made good runs into the box, and he finished.
“He is a bit of a clinical finisher. Without putting too much pressure on him, it will just give him more belief that he should be in the A-League. I’m happy to sign him and give him his opportunity.”
