Melbourne and Sydney both notched away wins to maintain their spots at the top of the table, while Newcastle moved into fourth with a crucial win over Gold Coast.
Results – Round 19
NORTH QUEENSLAND FURY 1, Perth Glory 0
Wellington Phoenix 0, SYDNEY FC 1
Central Coast Mariners 0, MELBOURNE VICTORY 3
Brisbane Roar 0, ADELAIDE UNITED 1
NEWSCASTLE JETS 3, Gold Coast United 2
Game Wraps
Melbourne and Sydney both notched away wins to maintain their spots at the top of the table, while Newcastle moved into fourth with a crucial win over Gold Coast.
Melbourne’s impressive away form continued at Bluetongue Stadium on Saturday night, with the defending champions overcoming bogey side Central Coast 3-0.
The Victory dominated early but were lucky to go into the half-time break at 0-0 after Mitch Langerak pulled off a great save off Matt Simon. Some great teamwork set-up the first goal on 56 minutes when Archie Thompson set free Matthew Kemp and he found Carlos Hernandez, who finished well.
Thirteen minutes later it was 2-0 when those three players combined again. Hernandez helped set up Thompson for the cross and Kemp was there to finish at the near post. Kemp also had a hand in the third goal, putting in a cross which Mariners defender Nigel Boogaard turned in to his own net.
Earlier on Saturday, Sydney became the first away side in 14 months to win in New Zealand, with Steve Corica’s penalty enough to secure the Sky Blues tenth win over the season over Wellington at Palmerston North.
Alex Brosque was brought down in the box on 16 minutes and the Sydney skipper had no trouble converting the spot kick.
Newcastle prevailed in by far the best contest of the week, with a fourth win in its past five matches, 3-2 against Gold Coast at EnergyAustralia Stadium.
A magnificent finish from Jobe Wheelhouse on six minutes set the Jets’ ball rolling before Shane Smeltz converted from the spot just before half time. The game then looked completely in the Jets’ keeping when Sean Rooney scored one and laid on another for Sasho Petrovski to make it 3-1. But Smeltz was on target again on 84 minutes to give United a chance of getting a point. The Jets held on to move past Perth and Central Coast and into fourth.
On Friday night, North Queensland recorded a second consecutive home win, with David Williams’ first-half effort enough to overcome Perth Glory 1-0 at Dairy Farmers Stadium.
Saturday night’s clash between Brisbane and Adelaide at Suncorp Stadium saw the Reds grab their first win in five matches. Matthew Leckie set-up Fabian Barbiero for the only goal of the match on 77 minutes. Adelaide remains bottom, but level with Brisbane on 20 points and only one point off North Queensland and Wellington.
Weekend Goals Tally: 11
Attendances (total / average): 30849/6170
Goal of the Week – Jobe Wheelhouse
Wheelhouse’s magnificent sixth-minute strike for Newcastle against Gold Coast may well feature among the goals of the year. Wheelhouse’s second goal of his Hyundai A-League career was a superb one touch right foot effort. Sensing he had room to unleash a curling shot from outside the box, Wheelhouse received the ball and fired in one action, hitting a perfect shot into the top corner of the net.
Player of the Week – Matthew Kemp
Kemp has always been Melbourne’s Mr Consistency, but on Saturday he produced a superb individual performance, setting up two goals and scoring the other, just his second in 91 Hyundai A-League appearances, in the 3-0 win over the Mariners.
One to Watch – David Williams
David Williams’ first Hyundai A-League goal wasn’t the most spectacular he’ll ever score, but the fact he is off the mark is significant for a player rated by many as a future star of the game. Williams must be benefitting enormously from learning under Robbie Fowler and while he has had to be patient to wait for his chance, he could be set to have a big finish to the season.
Leading Goalscorers after Round 18
14 – Shane Smeltz
9 – Robbie Fowler
8 – Archie Thompson, Sergio Van Dijk
7 – Carlos Hernandez
6 – Mark Bridge, , Paul Ifill, Matt Simon
5 – John Aloisi, Alex Brosque, Steve Corica, Chris Greenacre, Branko Jelic, Reinaldo, Mile Sterjovski
4 – Michael Bridges, Tim Brown, Labinot Haliti, Victor Sikora, Matt Thompson
3 – Cristiano, Rostyn Griffiths, Henrique, John Hutchinson, Daniel McBreen, Nik Mrdja, Lucas Pantelis, Jin-Hyung Song, Wayne Srhoj
2 – Leo Bertos, Pedj Bojic, Cassio, Daniel Cortes, Jason Culina, Dyron Daal, Mate Dugandzic, Steven Fitzsimmons, Jason Hoffman, Adam Kwasnik, Matthew Leckie, Adrian Leijer, Adriano Pellegrino, Joel Porter, Sean Rooney, Nicky Travis, Nick Ward
1 – Danny Allsopp, Costa Barbarouses, Fabian Barbiero, Andrew Barisic, Nigel Boogaard, Grant Brebner, Scott Bulloch, Isaka Cernak, Kofi Danning, Luke Devere, David Dodd, Travis Dodd, Ahmad Elrich, Ney Fabiano, Iain Fyfe, Brendan Gan, Chris Grossman, Jamie Harnwell, Troy Hearfield, Dean Heffernan, Todd Howarth, Adam Hughes, Matthew Kemp, Karol Kisel, Robbie Kruse, Michael McGlinchey, Terry McFlynn, Charlie Miller, Tahj Minniecon, Milson, Craig Moore, Kevin Muscat, Jason Naidovski, Mitch Nichols, Lloyd Owusu, Sasho Petrovski, Tomislav Pondeljak, Ben Sigmund, John Tambouras, Danny Tiatto, Rodrigo Vargas, Jobe Wheelhouse, Alex Wilkinson, David Williams
