Melbourne Victory are finals-bound after a simply breathtaking afternoon in the Liberty A-League
Victory (fourth) and Perth Glory (fifth) were involved in simultaneous games on Friday and although Perth got the three points needed to remain in the hunt, Victory survived an almighty scare to draw 0-0 with Canberra and finish the season above Perth on goal difference.
Elsewhere on Friday, March 4, Newcastle Jets were thumped 5-1 by Brisbane Roar in the Liberty A-League whilst Melbourne Victory eased to a 3-1 win over Macarthur FC in the Isuzu UTE A-League at AAMI Park.
The Friday agenda played out as follows:
- LIBERTY A-LEAGUE: Wellington Phoenix 1-3 Perth Glory
MATCH REPORT: Glory win not enough for ALW finals
- LIBERTY A-LEAGUE: Melbourne Victory 0-0 Canberra United
MATCH REPORT: Defiant Victory scrape into ALW finals
- LIBERTY A-LEAGUE: Newcastle Jets 1-5 Brisbane Roar
MATCH REPORT: Crummer hat-trick fires Roar past Jets
- ISUZU UTE A-LEAGUE: Melbourne Victory 3-1 Macarthur FC
AAMI Park. Kick-off: 7.45pm AEDT
MATCH REPORT: D’Agostino scores two as Victory trample Bulls
REACTION
‘Pretty petulant’: Cooney-Cross discipline in question as Victory star misses final
Liberty A-League
Paramount+ analyst Grace Gill says Melbourne Victory head coach Jeff Hopkins’ decision not to inform Kyra Cooney-Cross she was one yellow card away from suspension ahead of his side’s final game of the regular season will prove costly to the reigning champions in the finals.
The Matildas midfielder sidelined for Victory’s first finals fixture next weekend after collecting her fourth yellow card of the season for a rash challenge on Chelsee Washington in her side’s 0-0 draw with Canberra United on Friday.
Cooney-Cross was notified of her suspension in her post-match interview on Paramount+, but appeared to be unsure of the fact presented to her.
“Nothing is confirmed yet,” she said. “So I’ll treat it like I’m playing next week and see what happens.”
Hopkins went on to confirm he hadn’t informed Cooney-Cross of the delicate situation pre-game, as Victory gunned to seal their spot in the top four which was ultimately sealed by the 0-0 result.
“We were aware of it,” Hopkins told Paramount+ “I don’t really like bringing (up) stuff like that.
“We’ve talked to her about (it), one or two of her yellow cards have been pretty petulant.
“She needs to just be careful. I think one or two of them were for dissent and it comes back to bite you further down the line.
“I feel if you put those things in player’s minds they’re playing on them and you don’t get a good performance out of them.”
Hopkins’ decision not to alert his star of her potential suspension raised eyebrows in the Paramount+ studio.
“It was a silly foul from Cooney-Cross,” said football analyst Georgia Yeoman-Dale post-match. “It’s something that potentially if you’re not worried about cards you can make a professional foul to break up play.
“But if I’m a coach I’m talking to my players, I’m making them very aware of what a foul like that means going forward into finals.
“I know he said you put it in the player’s mind, but they should be thinking about it in a game, she should be very well aware of it, and not necessarily pulling out of tackles but not doing silly things like that.”
Gill added: “It was a really interesting comment I thought from Jeff, because I think Kyra is the kind of player that when she has something like that hanging over her head it does change the way she plays.
“Today, Jeff needed a result, there was no guarantee of finals until they got either a draw or a win so it was a bit of a gamble, and I think it’s going to prove costly for Victory come next week.”
Perth and Phoenix ‘exceed all expectations’ one last time as respectively brilliant campaigns come to an end
Liberty A-League
MATCH REPORT: Glory win not enough for ALW finals
It’s a sign of the impact both Perth Glory and Wellington Phoenix have made in the 2021/22 Liberty A-League campaign that a Round 14 clash between two teams tipped to struggle this season had the eyes of fans around the league glued to their screens on Friday afternoon.
That’s simply how it’s been all season for the ‘Nix and Perth, the two sides displaced in New South Wales and struggling to find their feet on the road early doors before storming home. The journeys of both clubs through 2021/22 are two of the stories of the season in their own right – and on Friday they came together at WIN Stadium to provide half the entertainment of a gripping double header.
Over at AAMI Park, meanwhile, Melbourne Victory hosted Canberra United in need of at least a draw to make their spot in the top four secure. Perth in fifth were hot on their heels, needing to beat the ‘Nix and pray Canberra could shock Victory in Melbourne.
Perth played their role, jumping out to a 3-0 lead over the ‘Nix whilst Victory struggled to break the chains of a resolute Canberra defence, dicing with death down the other end as an in-form Canberra attack splashed shots all over the the Victory canvas.
Perth went on to clinch three points, but not before Wellington offered a late fight, with Grace Jale scoring her fifth of the season – and fourth in four games.
Jale, who scored from the spot, told Paramount+ how she felt as she stepped up to the spot post-match: “I was crapping my pants if I’m being honest, I didn’t really want to take it but we did talk about it in training and they kind of pushed me forward to it, so I thought, you know, it better go in.
“I kind of wish I was in that form at the start of the season when I had a couple of injuries. I’m happy to be going strong but I’m excited for what’s next.
Jale ended her interview by explaining what she learnt in her first Liberty A-League season: “Play every game like it’s your last”.
That’s exactly how Perth approached their final game, ending the capaign with seven wins from 14 after going through the entire of 2020/21 without winning at all.
Victory, in the end, managed to do enough to make fourth spot their own, drawing 0-0 with Canberra to finish above Perth on goal difference alone.
It could have been a regular day in the Liberty A-League, with Victory ambling to the finals with ease. But because of Perth it wasn’t. Instead it was the breathless end to a top-four scrap which produced the kind of tension the occasion deserved.
Perth’s season ended on Friday night, as did Wellington’s. But the two sides have left a lasting impression, inspiring optimism inside Young Matildas head coach and Paramount+ co-commentator Leah Blayney for what the future holds for both sides on the rise.
“Both teams have definitely exceeded all expectations,” Blayney said in her post-match reflection.
“Although the game didn’t go Wellington’s way tonight, and the result in the other game didn’t go Perth’s, all the players and staff should be walking out of this stadium holding their heads high and looking forward to building on what they created this year.”
It might serve them well’: late error and missed chances in 3-1 win to keep Victory hungry for more
Isuzu UTE A-League
MATCH REPORT: D’Agostino scores two as Victory trample Bulls
What was shaping up to be a statement win over third-placed Macarthur FC ultimately left the Melbourne Victory players – and undoubtedly their head coach – wanting more, as missed chances and a late blunder saw a potential blowout end 3-1 in favour of the home side in the Isuzu UTE A-League at AAMI Park on Friday night.
Victory put eight shots on target in a game they led 3-0 before the hour mark. It’s how the score remained until the 90th minute when goalkeeper Ivan Kelava spilled a cross to let Bulls forward Apostolos Giannou deny his side a clean sheet.
Paramount+ analyst Andy Harper says the facets of play which took the shine off an otherwise excellent night out might just spur Victory forward as a busy month awaits.
“It’s not a dampener on Victory, I thought they were excellent today, but the final result actually was not reflective of how dominant they were,” Harper said post-match.
“It wasn’t just the dominance, it was the quality of opportunities they created and didn’t finish compounded by Kelava’s muck up at the end for the goal.
Harper continued: “It might serve them well. Rather than getting carried away with a great night at the office and then not having the edge going into the next game of this busy month we keep talking about… maybe that little clip around the ear of not finishing chances and that really soft goal to concede will just straighten things a little bit, and might set them up nicely for the month to come.”
Nick D’Agostino was the star of the show for Victory against Macarthur, his two first-half goals almost putting the result to bed before the break.
But after the game both he and Victory captain Josh Brillante vented their frustration at the concession of that late goal – a goal which Brillante says is a sign of sloppiness in his side they must clean up to ensure a mistake like Kelava’s at the death doesn’t cost them points in tighter games.
“I’m super disappointed, and I know everyone else will be too, we gave them nothing and then we let them score a goal like that,” Brillante said post-match.
“It’s a big part of our game, and we need to fix those little things up because in some games it can make a difference.”
D’Agostino added: “(The result) was a little bit convincing before we conceded that last one. We wanted that clean sheet.
“We’ve got a lot of games coming up in a short time, we’ve had a big break now, I think 13 days and we wanted to come out here fresh and ready to go and put a statement for the rest of the league that we’re not here to mess around.
“This club deserves to be at the top of the table and we’re fighting to get back there.”
Victory have a hectic March schedule with seven Isuzu UTE A-League matches in 23 days.
Resurgent Crummer wants Matildas spot back
MATCH REPORT: Crummer hat-trick fires Roar past Jets
“She’s certainly put her hand up for Matildas selection,” said Paramount+ co-commentator Phil Moss after witnessing Larissa Crummer dismantle her former side Newcastle with a three-goal haul in a 5-1 Roar win on Friday night.
Crummer said post-match she “definitely wants to get back (to the Matildas squad, especially with a World Cup coming up” – and could you blame the Roar spearhead for believing?
If her recent past is anything to go by, a challenge in her path is not one she’ll shy away from.
Take the five surgeries which followed her horrific broken leg suffered while playing for Newcastle in January 2019, for example, with her tibia and fibula bones in her left leg shattered in a freak collision with Adelaide United keeper Sarah Langman.
It took Crummer more than two years – 758 days, to be exact – to return to football last season, but if recent form is anything to go by, it appears Crummer is approaching her best form at a rate of knots.
Her six goals to date in the 2021/22 Liberty A-League season is her best output since 2016, when she won the league’s Golden Boot award with 11 goals scored for Melbourne City.
Postponed fixtures throughout the season have left the Roar with two games left to play when others have already fulfilled their allotted 14 for the regular season. It leaves Crummer with the chance to fill her boots as the goals finally flow for the Queenslanders.
“We’ve put in so much hard work at training and our creators and goalscorer have been working really hard,” said Roar boss Garth McPherson post-match.
“We’ve been creating lots of chances in games throughout the whole season, and it kind of just felt like tonight they started to fall in.
“(Crummer) got a hat-trick, she’s been knocking on the door to score that many goals for a while, so it’s wonderful to he her do what she did – and there were some really nice goals in there as well – so it’s really pleasing, the team will be really happy with that performance.”
