There were loads of Hyundai A-League clubs in trial matches today as many had their final pre-season hit out before season nine gets under way on 11 October.
There were loads of Hyundai A-League clubs in trial matches today as many had their final pre-season hit out before season nine gets under way on 11 October.
Newcastle Jet 2 – 1 Central Coast Mariners
Brent Griffiths- second half goal direct from a Michael McGlinchey corner wasn’t enough to prevent Central Coast Mariners from going down 2-1 to Newcastle Jets in Tamworth.
Craig Goodwin netted twice in the first 45 to provide his team with a handy lead, before Griffiths got a goal back for Graham Arnold-s team in Australia-s country music capital shortly after the hour mark.
Goodwin-s first of the game came in the 19th minute when he struck a right foot shot on the half-volley beyond Liam Reddy. Just four minutes later, Goodwin doubled his tally with a diving header from a precise Scott Neville cross.
While the Mariners got one back in the second half and had chances late on the equalise, the Jets held their nerve to record a win in an F3 derby that travelled to Scully Park.
Melbourne Victory 3 – 0 Western Sydney Wanderers
Melbourne Victory’s pre-season campaign continued in winning ways today, with the boys in blue defeating reigning Premiers Western Sydney Wanderers 3-0 at Kingston Twin Ovals in Tasmania.
It didn’t take long for Victory to take the lead and it was 1-0 after just 12 seconds. Archie Thompson played in Kosta Barbarouses, whose initial shot was stopped by Wanderers’ ‘keeper Ante Covic, but the ball then fell to Connor Pain who delicately played the ball to Mitch Nichols, with Nichols finding the open net with his shot.
Victory continued to dominate possession throughout the opening half and were rewarded for their persistence when Pain again played provider, delivering a great ball for Barbarouses to fire home.
The third goal was a little less conventional after a back-pass went wrong for Covic. The former Victory ‘keeper’s attempted clearance went straight into his own net – securing the Victory pre-season honours.
Perth Glory 3 – 0 Sydney FC
Perth Glory continued their strong pre-season form with a clinical 3-0 win over the Sky Blues in Sydney this afternoon. James MacLaren was the star of the match, scoring a brace and setting up another as Glory ran out winners in both team-s final start ahead of round one.
The Glory took the lead on 15 minutes when Josh Risdon beat Nikola Petkovic on the Perth right hand side to square to Jamie MacLaren in the box. The striker-s first touch took him past Matt Jurman and he fired home from eight yards.
Despite Sydney FC-s pressure towards the end of the first half, Perth went further ahead inside three minutes of the restart. A bouncing ball found its way to MacLaren and his lobbed pass put Sidnei Sciola through on goal and he made no mistake.
The final goal of the night came with virtually the last kick of the game when MacLaren completed a brace neatly lobbing the ball over Ivan Necevski from the 25 yard mark.
The Sky Blues now have less than two weeks to go until Friday 11th October when they kick off the Hyundai A-League season 2013/14 at home to Newcastle Jets. Meanwhile Glory will travel to Adelaide for their first official encounter of the year.
Brisbane Roar 11 – 1 Olympic FC
Brisbane Roar has ended their 2013 pre-season campaign with an incredible 11-1 win over National Premier Leagues Queensland Premiers and Champions Olympic FC.
Two weeks before their first match of the Hyundai A-League 2013/14 season against Wellington Phoenix in New Zealand, Brisbane managed 11 goals without usual goal scorer Besart Berisha.
Kwame Yeboah bagged a brace – meaning he’s scored 5 goals in the past three pre-season fixtures – while Henrique, returning from a niggling knee injury, notched a second half hat-trick in 11 minutes.
Thomas Broich and Matt McKay also scored two each while youngsters Ben Litfin and Brandon Borrello each contributed one goal to the scoreboard.
Melbourne Heart 4 – 1 Peninsula XI
Melbourne Heart enjoyed a 4-1 win over a Peninsula XI outfit at Frankston Park, in the Club-s final hit out of the pre-season.
An early goal from Ersin Kaya and a first-half double from Paul Retre gave the Red and White a 3-0 half-time lead, before John Bounis scored the side-s fourth in the 50th minute.
The Peninsula XI side netted a consolation through Geordie Scott in the 68th minute in a match played in warm conditions in front of a healthy crowd of over 2,000 people.
Wellington Phoenix 0 – 1 Auckland City
The Wellington Phoenix- 1-0 loss to Auckland City at Kiwitea Street on Saturday was just what the doctor ordered for head coach Ernie Merrick. Not the result, because Merrick dislikes losing with a passion, but the workout his players got with the Hyundai A-League season now less than two weeks away.
Merrick wasn’t using the absence of star players as an excuse for the loss and gave Auckland City full credit for a win that came through a late long-range strike by youngster Sam Burfoot.
While satisfied with the way pre-season has progressed – including impressive wins over Sydney FC and Newcastle Jets – Merrick has been frustrated by not being able to put out what he considers will be his best side.
As the game was the last sanctioned pre-season match for the Phoenix we’ll have to wait until their round one clash against Brisbane Roar to see exactly how far they’ve come.
