With Brisbane Roar v Canberra United’s Liberty A-League clash postponed due to weather conditions, two A-Leagues fixtures were left to fill the schedule on Friday, February 18.
In the first game of the day Wellington Phoenix lost 4-1 to Adelaide United in the Liberty A-League, before ten-man Newcastle Jets lost 3-0 against Melbourne City in the Isuzu UTE A-League.
KEEPUP followed along LIVE to bring you all the goals, up to date scores, highlights and biggest talking points from two A-Leagues fixtures on Friday, February 18.
- Wellington Phoenix 1-4 Adelaide United
REPORT: Reds beat Phoenix, eye maiden ALW finals berth
- Melbourne City 3-0 Newcastle Jets
Isuzu UTE A-League, AAMI Park
REPORT: Tilio on song as City go top of ALM table
- Brisbane Roar v Canberra United
Liberty A-League, Perry Park. POSTPONED
READ: Roar v Canberra ALW match POSTPONED
REACTION
What’s Tilio’s best position in stacked City squad?
It’s the burning question becoming louder and louder with each impressive performance from young City star Marco Tilio: in a fully-fit City squad, on a day when head coach Patrick Kisnorbo aims to name his strongest side, does Tilio slot into his starting lineup – and where?
On Friday night, the 20-year-old was the shining light in a City side struggling against Newcastle Jets before moving up the gears in the second half to cruise to a 3-0 win.
REPORT: Tilio on song as City go top of ALM table
A 1-0 lead at the break was not entirely what City deserved – but they claimed it nonetheless, and put the pedal down after the break. Tilio was immense, setting up Mathew Leckie to make it 2-0 before drawing Jets defender Taylor Regan into his second late challenge of the evening to reduce the visitors to 10 men.
Tilio capped off his display by sliding Carl Jenkinson into the box to add the third as City strolled to the top of the Isuzu UTE A-League table.
With Connor Metcalfe on the bench Tilio operated in a central role, with Aiden O’Neill and Florin Berenguer in support. At other times we’ve seen the recently-capped Socceroo operating off either flank in the absence of Andrew Nabbout or Mathew Leckie.
But therein lies the problem for Tilio: his opportunities to sparkle come in spurts due to the calibre of six quality players contending with him for positions in both the midfield three and attacking three.
He seems to be the next man in behind Nabbout, Leckie and Maclaren up front whilst playing the same role in midfield behind Metcalfe, O’Neill and Berenguer.
But Tilio isn’t phased by the fierce competition for minutes.
“I’m pretty calm and collected,” Tilio told Paramount+ post-match. “I know the competition I have is quite tough, I’m going up against some Socceroos and top-class players. I can only test myself every day in training and try and get up to their level, and even try and push them out of the way.
“It’s tough, but it’s only going to make me prove (myself) as a player. That’s my mentality: go in every day to be better than them and try and get into the starting XI.”
Liberty A-League Golden Boot race a three-way tie as Dawber, Worts lead Reds into uncharted waters
Choose your fighter: Fiona Worts, Chelsie Dawber or Hannah Wilkinson.
The three Liberty A-League spearheads are neck and neck in the race for the 2021/22 Golden Boot – but with Dawber under an injury cloud and Hannah Wilkinson on international duty, is Worts now in pole position to emerge victorious from the three-way battle?
Both Dawber and Worts matched Wilkinson’s 10 goals for the season in a 4-1 win over Wellington Phoenix on Friday, February 18. No Adelaide player had ever scored 10 Liberty A-League goals in a single season – the two Reds strikers reached that milestone together at WIN Stadium.
It sets up an intriguing battle for the Golden Boot heading into the final stages of the campaign.
Wilkinson scored her tenth goal of the season in a 4-0 win over Perth Glory – but travelling to the United States to lead the line for New Zealand in the SheBelieves Cup will put the Melbourne City striker out of action until at least February 24 – the date of her nation’s last game at the tournament against Czech Republic.
Two of City’s four remaining fixtures are scheduled within that timeframe, leaving Wilkinson with two games – against Newcastle Jets and Western Sydney Wanderers – to fill her boots.
Adelaide, meanwhile have played two games more than City up to this stage in the season, which means both Dawber and Worts have the same amount of games left in the regular season to gun for top-scoring honours.
Worts launched into Golden Boot contention with her five-goal haul against Brisbane Roar on February 13, and appears the better placed of the two Adelaide forwards to gun for the Golden Boot after a knee injury sustained by Dawber in the second half of the Reds’ win over Wellington.
There were screams of agony as Dawber hit the deck under contact from Mackenzie Barry, grasping an already heavily-taped left knee.
Dawber was taken out of the game with 12 minutes left on the clock.
REPORT: WELLINGTON PHOENIX 1-4 ADELAIDE UNITED
“I just landed a bit funny on my knee down there,” Dawber told Paramount+ post-game, with her knee significantly bandaged and iced.
“I felt okay when I was playing but as I’ve come off it has stiffened up a bit. Hopefully I’ll recover well and be okay for Victory next Saturday.”
That could be the saving grace for Dawber: an eight-day break between fixtures for the Reds.
On Saturday, February 26 Adelaide take on Melbourne Victory in the club’s penultimate fixture of the season. The Reds are currently third, with Perth Glory lurking in fifth waiting for an opportunity to sneak into the top four.
Should Perth lose or draw in their fixture against Victory this weekend, Adelaide can secure the club’s maiden finals appearance with a win over the same opponent in their next outing.
As if Dawber and Worts needed any further incentive to find the back of the net.
Regan ‘left his team in the lurch’ with repeat mistakes against City
It was like watching the same bad movie on consecutive nights: you knew what was coming but you couldn’t look away, as Marco Tilio drove at Taylor Regan with pace.
Getting squared up by the young City attacker on two occasions led to Regan receiving a pair of yellow cards for repeat challenges on either side of half time, reducing his team to ten men for more than half an hour of play.
His second yellow couldn’t have come at a worse time for the Jets, who were the better side in the first 45 at AAMI Park on Friday night.
A goal to Jamie Maclaren just before the break was a bitter pill for Athur Papas’ side to swallow, as was the Mathew Leckie finish in the 52nd minute to make it 2-0 to the reigning champions – but Regan’s dismissal two minutes later was the killer blow.
“He’d be disappointed with those two (challenges), he’s left his team in the lurch,” Said Andy Harper on the Paramount+ post-game show.
“You’re away from home, against a team you’ve had difficulty with at a venue you haven’t had great success at, and maybe tonight’s the night you can do something against Melbourne City.
You come out and have a good first half, you’re sitting on that yellow – that’s when you dip into the reservoir of experience and you just back off.
“You have to, you’ve got no alternative.”
Former Socceroos captain Mark Milligan saw Regan’s two cautions as avoidable incidents brought about by a repeat defensive error.
“You see on both those occasions, his body shape going into both challenges is good – he’s low, he’s side on, he’s moving with the ball – and both on impact he’s caught square,” Milligan said.
“You know you’re in a lot of trouble when you’re square because you’ve committed to that challenge.”
