Melbourne maintained a three-point gap on top of the table with a 0-0 draw against Sydney, while Brisbane made its move up to fifth with a second successive win and Newcastle is up to fourth after its fourth win in succession.
Results – Round 20
Adelaide United 1, Wellington Phoenix 1
Central Coast Mariners 2, BRISBANE ROAR 3
Melbourne Victory 0, Sydney FC 0
NEWCASTLE JETS 3, North Queensland Fury 2
GOLD COAST UNITED 2, Perth Glory 0
Results – Round 19
BRISBANE ROAR 2, North Queensland Fury 0
Game Wraps
Melbourne maintained a three-point gap on top of the table with a 0-0 draw against Sydney, while Brisbane made its move up to fifth with a second successive win and Newcastle is up to fourth after its fourth win in a row.
The top-of-the table clash didn’t quite live up to the hype at Etihad Stadium, with neither side able to get the ball into the net in an otherwise entertaining encounter. Melbourne dominated the play throughout and Archie Thompson hit the bar inside the first two minutes, but the Victory were unable to open the gap on their chief premiership rivals.
Brisbane and Newcastle both recorded 3-2 wins to move their way up the Hyundai A-League table. The Jets became the first team this year to win four games in succession, with Sasho Petrovski scoring the winner against North Queensland with a goal in his 100th Hyundai A-League game.
Newcastle led 2-0 after two goals inside the first 25 minutes, with Chris Tadrosse scoring an own goal before Jin Hyung Song added a second. But Dyron Daal led the North Queensland fightback, scoring either side of half-time to make it 2-2.
However, veteran striker Petrovski, who has also spent time at Sydney and Central Coast, found space to turn in the box on 82 minutes and secure the winner.
Brisbane’s resurgence under Ange Postecoglou continued with its second win in four days. After defeating North Queensland 2-0 midweek thanks to a pair of goals from Sergio van Dijk, the Roar maintained their unbeaten record in Gosford with a 3-2 win over the Mariners.
Like the Jets, they led 2-0 early on with the ultra-impressive Tommy Oar and van Dijk both hitting the back of the net inside the first 22 minutes. But a horrible back-pass from Craig Moore let Nicky Travis in to pull one back on 34 minutes.
Dylan Macallister then bobbed up 14 minutes from time and looked to have rescued a point for the home side. But Matt McKay fired home in the 90th minute to make it back-to-back wins for Brisbane for the first time this season.
Adelaide missed a chance to significantly move up the table against Wellington at Hindmarsh Stadium on Friday night. Brazilian Alemao put in his claim for goal of the year in the 57th minute, but Adrian Caceres nipped in and with the help of a deflection from Eugene Galekovic managed to secure a point.
And Gold Coast bounced back to winning ways with a 2-0 win over Perth at Skilled Park on Sunday. Shane Smeltz scored goal No.15 for the year in the third minute, before Charlie Miller opened his account for his new club in the 76th to keep United in third spot.
Weekend Goals Tally: 14
Attendances (total / average): 53434/10687
Goal of the Week – Alemao
The Brazilian unleashed a magnificent shot early in the second half of the game against the Phoenix. Shoulder to shoulder with Daniel and about 30 yards out, he hit the ball beautifully with his right foot and floated it past Eugene Galekovic and into the back of the net.
Player of the Week – Dyron Daal
Daal may have had his critics this year, but he produced his best performance for the Fury in a losing cause on Sunday, scoring two goals in the 3-2 loss to the Jets.
One to Watch – Tommy Oar
The Brisbane youngster has been in this category a few times this year and he deserves another mention after a strong performance against Central Coast on Saturday night. He is one of the main reasons while a once ailing Roar side is now back in the hunt for the play-offs.
Leading Goalscorers after Round 19
15 – Shane Smeltz
9 – Robbie Fowler, Sergio Van Dijk
8 – Archie Thompson
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, Dyron Daal, Labinot Haliti, Victor Sikora, Jin-Hyung Song, Matt Thompson
3 – Cristiano, Rostyn Griffiths, Henrique, John Hutchinson, Daniel Mcbreen, Nik Mrdja, Lucas Pantelis, Wayne Srhoj, Nicky Travis
2 – Leo Bertos, Pedj Bojic, Cassio, Daniel Cortes, Jason Culina, Mate Dugandzic, Steven Fitzsimmons, Jason Hoffman, Adam Kwasnik, Matthew Leckie, Adrian Leijer, Charlie Miller, Adriano Pellegrino, Sasho Petrovski, Joel Porter, Sean Rooney, Nick Ward
1 – Alemao, Danny Allsopp, Costa Barbarouses, Fabian Barbiero, Andrew Barisic, Nigel Boogaard, Grant Brebner, Scott Bulloch, Adrian Caceres, 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, Dylan Macallister, Terry Mcflynn, Michael Mcglinchey, Matt Mckay, Tahj Minniecon, Milson, Craig Moore, Kevin Muscat, Jason Naidovski, Mitch Nichols, Tommy Oar, Lloyd Owusu, Tomislav Pondeljak, Ben Sigmund, John Tambouras, Danny Tiatto, Rodrigo Vargas, Jobe Wheelhouse, Alex Wilkinson, David Williams
