Gold Coast has moved back to the top of the Hyundai A-League table as Sydney slipped-up, while Melbourne bounced back to form to move to third.
Results – Round 9
ADELAIDE UNITED 2, Sydney FC 1
Brisbane Roar 0, CENTRAL COAST MARINERS 3
North Queensland 1 Wellington Phoenix 1
Newcastle Jets 1, MELBOURNE VICTORY 3
GOLD COAST UNITED 2, Perth Glory 1
Game Wraps
Gold Coast has moved back to the top of the Hyundai a-League table as Sydney slipped-up, while Melbourne bounced back to form to move to third.
Gold Coast United has survived a gallant Perth Glory challenge to reclaim top-spot on the Hyundai A-League ladder with a 2-1 victory at Skilled Park on Sunday evening.
Trailing by an own goal after the first half the Glory had the better of play through the second, but rued a raft of near misses and lost opportunities.
Todd Howarth equalised for the visitors’ soon after the break but a lack of communication allowed United to strike back with the defining goal seconds later.
With only two Perth defenders back, Brazilian Anderson went long from the restart.
Glory men Jamie Coyne and Scott Neville collided heavily on the way to the ball and Joel Porter was left an easy job of finding the unmarked Shane Smeltz for his 10th goal of the season.
The win moved Gold Coast to 20 points, one clear of Sydney, which slipped up at 10-man Adealide on Friday night.
The Reds were forced to play with 10 men after Fabian Barbiero was given a red card in the eighth minute for dragging Mark Bridge down as the Sky Blues player streamed towards an open goal.
But the setback had no impact on United’s hunger, with the home side taking a 2-0 lead thanks to striker Cristiano. The Brazilian was paired with youngster Mathew Leckie up front, in favour of Lloyd Owusu, and the extravert didn’t disappoint. He struck in 29th and 54th minutes to earn his team a valuable three points.
Sydney never gave up and pegged one back through substitute striker John Aloisi. But it wasn’t enough as the Sky Blues gave up their hold on top place.
Some Carlos Hernandez magic has helped Melbourne come from behind to register a 3-1 win over the Newcastle Jets in their Round 11 Hyundai A-League fixture at EnergyAustralia Stadium on Sunday.
The Costa Rican international showed his class to lead a Victory revival after Labinot Haliti had deservedly put the Jets ahead in the 22nd minute.
Hernandez displayed great vision to put Archie Thompson clear for the equaliser just after the hour mark before unleashing a vicious 35-yard strike that cannoned off the crossbar for Tom Pondlejak to pounce on and poke home Melbourne’s second goal in the 79th minute.
Hernandez completed a great match when he grabbed a goal of his own six minutes from full time to seal the victory.
At Suncorp Stadium on Saturday, Central Coast powered past Brisbane 3-0.
Some poor defence from Bob Malcolm allowed Nicky Travis to nip in and score the opener for Central Coast in the fourth minute, before John Hutchinson’s pace took him through the back four to score a magnificent solo goal 14 minutes later.
Brisbane had a good chance to pull one back but Matt McKay fluffed his lines before Pedj Bojic latched onto an errant pass from Luke Devere to kill off the contest 20 minutes from time.
North Queensland, meanwhile, remain in last position but it is now level on points with Newcastle after a 1-1 draw with the eighth-placed Wellington Phoenix.
The New Zealanders went into the side having claimed five draws in a row so it was hardly surprising when this one ended up going that way too on a warm Saturday night at Dairy Farmers Stadium.
Fury midfielder James Robinson had a great opportunity to open the scoring in the first minute, but when he missed the chance, the Phoenix took it down the other end for Tim Brown to nod home in the fifth minute.
But despite enjoying a number of chances, the Phoenix couldn’t add to the score and fell victim to a Robbie Fowler equaliser six minutes from time in an increasingly familiar tale.
Weekend Goals Tally: 15
Attendances (total / average): 34454/6890
Goal of the Week – Pedj Bojic
Pedj Bojic’s goal iced Central Coast’s 3-0 win over the Roar. The midfielder intercepted the ball about 30 metres out from his goal, them dribbled around two opponents. He then unleashed a wonderful let-foot strike which gave Griffen McMaster no hope of saving. A great goal capping a great day fro Lawrie McKinna’s men.
Player of the Week – Mark Rudan
The veteran defender put on a star turn against his old club at Hindmarsh Stadium on Friday night. With the Reds down to ten men early on, Rudan was in for busy night and produced an excellent performance. He blocked two shots for goal and proved a constant frustration for the likes of Mark Bridge, Alex Brosque and John Aloisi.
One to Watch – Mate Dugandzic
The scoreboard may indicate that Carlos Hernandez and Archie Thompson turned this game for Melbourne, but it was the attacking and enterprising of young Dugandzic which made the difference. After a flat first half, Dugandzic came on and provided a real attacking spark for Melbourne, giving the defending champions the confidence to rally from 1-0 and win 3-1.
Leading Goalscorers after Round 11
10 – Shane Smeltz
5 – Robbie Fowler, Archie Thompson, Carlos Hernandez
4 – John Aloisi, Mark Bridge, Branko Jelic, Sergio Van Dijk
3 -Henrique, Lucas Pantelis, Reinaldo, Victor Sikora, Matt Simon, Mile Sterjovski
2 – Leo Bertos, Tim Brown, Cassio, Steve Corica, Cristiano, Jason Culina, Chris Greenacre, Labinot Haliti, Jason Hoffman, John Hutchinson, Paul Ifill, Daniel Mcbreen, Adriano Pellegrino, Joel Porter, Matt Simon, Jin-Hyung Song, Wayne Srhoj, Nicky Travis
1 – Danny Allsopp, Pedj Bojic, Nigel Boogaard, Grant Brebner, Alex Brosque, Dyron Daal, Kofi Danning, Travis Dodd, Ney Fabiano, Steven Fitzsimmons, Iain Fyfe, Brendan Gan, Royston Griffiths, Chris Grossman, Todd Howarth, Matthew Leckie, Adrian Leijer, Michael Mcglinchey, Terry Mcflynn, Charlie Miller, Tahj Minniecon, Milson, Craig Moore, Kevin Muscat, Jason Naidovski, Mitch Nichols, Lloyd Owusu, Tomislav Pondeljak, Sean Rooney, Ben Sigmund, John Tambouras, Matt Thompson, Danny Tiatto, Nick Ward, Alex Wilkinson
