The Hyundai A-League ladder has tightened up again after a Round 14 full of upsets as the top two teams lost to the teams placed third and fourth.
Results – Round 14
Adelaide United 0, BRISBANE ROAR 2
Melbourne Victory 0, CENTRAL COAST MARINERS 4
GOLD COAST UNITED 1, Sydney FC 0
Wellington Phoenix 1, Perth Glory 1
NEWCASTLE JETS 2, North Queensland Fury 0
Game Wraps
The Hyundai A-League ladder has tightened up again after a Round 15 full of upsets as the top two teams lost to the teams placed third and fourth.
Sydney and Melbourne could have opened up a gap on top of the table, but both suffered defeats, with Melbourne crashing to its worst home loss in its history as Central Coast Mariners won 4-0, while Gold Coast bounced back from its slump to down the Sky Blues 1-0 at Skilled Park.
The Mariners were shooting for consecutive victories at Etihad Stadium having beaten Melbourne 2-0 in Round 1. Adam Kwasnik’s spectacular effort opened the scoring on 15 minutes before three goals in nine second-half minutes finished off a stunned Victory outfit.
Matt Simon headed in on 75 minutes before Dean Heffernan nutmegged Glen Moss for the third and Nik Mrdja slotted the fourth.
Gold Coast worked hard to create chances against a stubborn Sydney defence, and was rewarded on 36 minuted when a superb Jason Culina cross found Shane Smeltz who headed in his 11th goal of the season.
On Friday night, Adelaide went into its clash with Brisbane at Hindmarsh Stadium as favourite, but emerged with a bruised ego as two goals from Sergio van Dijk saw the Roar returned to home.
The Reds were not without their chances with 21 shots on goal and Lloyd Owusu missing a penalty.
On Sunday, a 69th minute scorcher from Wayne Srhoj put Perth in the box seat to end Wellington’s run at home without a defeat, but in-form Paul Ifill pulled one back for the Phoenix with eight minutes left.
The final match of the round saw Newcastle move off the bottom of the table with a 2-0 won over North Queensland. Matt Thompson knocked in the first early in the second half before Michael Bridges sealed it with a spot kick in the final minutes.
Weekend Goals Tally: 11
Attendances (total / average): 48161/9632
Goal of the Week – Wayne Srhoj
With the game poised at 0-0 in the second half of the match between Perth and Wellington at Westpac Stadium, Srhoj put in his claim for goal of the year with a magnificent free kick variation. Poised about 35 yards from goal, Srhoj tapped it to a team back, got it back an unleashed a wickedly curving shot which Reece Crowther had no hope of stopping.
Player of the Week – Nicky Travis
The Englishman was dropped by Lawrie McKinna a few weeks ago, but rebounded with a superb performance against Melbourne Victory. He played a hand in three of the four goals, pulled the strings in midfield and even chipped in down back when needed. Is starting to really adjust to the Hyundai A-League.
One to Watch – Matthew Lewis
Made his first start for the Mariners and was super impressive against Melbourne. He could have scored twice just after half time and looks ready to take the step up after serving his apprenticeship in the National Youth League.
Leading Goalscorers after Round 14
11 – Shane Smeltz
8 – Robbie Fowler
7 – Sergio van Dijk
6 – Mark Bridge, Carlos Hernandez
5 – Paul Ifill, Archie Thompson, Matt Simon, Mile Sterjovski
4 – John Aloisi, Chris Greenacre, Labinot Haliti, Branko Jelic, Victor Sikora
3 – Tim Brown, Steve Corica, Henrique, Lucas Pantelis, Reinaldo, Wayne Srhoj
2 – Leo Bertos, Michael Bridges, Alex Brosque, Cassio, Daniel Cortes, Cristiano, Jason Culina, Dyron Daal, Mate Dugandzic, Jason Hoffman, John Hutchinson, Adam Kwasnik, Adrian Leijer, Daniel Mcbreen, Adriano Pellegrino, Joel Porter, Jin-Hyung Song, Matt Thompson, Nicky Travis
1 – Danny Allsopp, Costa Barbarouses, Pedj Bojic, Nigel Boogaard, Grant Brebner, Isaka Cernak, Kofi Danning, Travis Dodd, Ney Fabiano, Steven Fitzsimmons, Iain Fyfe, Brendan Gan, Royston Griffiths, Chris Grossman, Troy Hearfield, Dean Heffernan, Karol Kisel, Todd Howarth, Adam Hughes, Matthew Leckie, Michael Mcglinchey, Terry Mcflynn, Charlie Miller, Tahj Minniecon, Milson, Craig Moore, Nik Mrdja, Kevin Muscat, Jason Naidovski, Mitch Nichols, Lloyd Owusu, Tomislav Pondeljak, Sean Rooney, Ben Sigmund, John Tambouras, Danny Tiatto, Nick Ward, Alex Wilkinson
