Sunday, September 5, 2010

Round 5

Performance of the round: Adelaide Utd
Heat will be on: Sydney FC
Bye: Gold Coast Utd

Central Coast Mariners 2 - 0 Melbourne Victory
Daniel McBreen's less than conventional celebration
Central Coast are the Melbourne's bogey team and the hoodoo continued as the boys from Gosford controlled the game, scoring in both halves to run out comfortable winners. Rostyn Griffiths kicked off proceedings by heading in a awkward free kick from the centre of the park. Victory marking was poor and again, Michael Petkovic was beaten in the air as eye brows will start to raise. Central Coast settled in and took control of the game, and while chances were few and far between, Victory never really challenged the Mariners goal. Another header, on the other side of the break, effectively sealed the encounter. The busy Matt Simon, who interestingly commits the most fouls yet also gains the most free kicks in the A-League, broke free on the wing to deliver a perfect cross to new Mariners striker Daniel McBreen. McBreen celebrated by tucking the ball under his guernsey, a belated shout-out to his wife who was about to go into labor before kick off. The win will give Graham Arnold's side a big confidence boost after their conservative start to the season.
Scorers: CCM (Griffiths 21', McBreen 50')  Crowd: 6,829 at Bluetongue Stadium.

Melbourne Heart 1 - 0 North Queensland Fury
The Heart registered their first ever win  but were less than convincing. In driving rain, the impressive Nick Kalmar again got his name on the score sheet in the 11th minute, and this would prove enough for the three points. Between scoring and half time, Heart coach John van't Schip felt his team put in "one of our worst performances." Although improving in the second half, it was the Fury who will be left ruing their chances as they enjoyed much of the build up play. However, they were unable to convert. John Aloisi was a late substitute for the Heart and came close to scoring in his first performance for the new franchise. One-on-one with Justin Pasfield, Aloisi chose to shoot on the outside of his preferred left boot, forcing a top save from the Fury number one. On a dour note, crowd numbers were again the talking point as the Heart could only draw a poultry 4000 spectators.
Scorers: Mel (Kalmar 11')  Crowd: 4,000 at AAMI Park.

Sydney FC 1 - 3 Adelaide United
Sergio van Dijk scores a free kick, one of his two for the night
The defending champions languish at the bottom of the ladder after another poor performance in round five. On the other end of the spectrum, Adelaide United's confidence would be sky high as they sit atop the A-League ladder. After the season from hell last year, United have seemed to gel under Dutchman Rini Coolen has taken over the reigns. Adelaide went into the break with a comfortable two nil lead after goals to Sergio van Dijk and Matthew Leckie. Van dijk had put a slightly deflected free kick past Liam Reddy while Leckie had latched onto a Paul Reid through ball to finish at break-neck speed. The second half saw much of the same as van Dijk completed his brace eight minutes after the break. The sky blue's Stephen Keller then responded shortly after with a sublime header, although this would prove to be merely a consolation. Questions will start to be asked of Vitezslav Lavicka's team as his team appear to be struggling without the likes of Simon Colosimo, John Aloisi and Clint Bolton.
Scorers: Adl (van Dijk 9', 53', Leckie 37') Syd (Keller 58')  Crowd: 7,557 at Sydney Football Stadium.

Newcastle Jets 0 - 0 Brisbane Roar
Newcastle have put a horror week behind them to grind out a nil-all draw with the Brisbane Roar, who have been impressive this far into the season. To make matters worse for the Jets, who's financial problems were laid bare during the week, Ruben Zadkovic was sent off with 10 minutes remaining. Neither team was able to assert their ascendancy on the game which was played in blustery conditions on a suspect pitch. Jets coach Branko Culina was pleased with result while Roar coach Ange Postecoglou summed up the match perfectly by saying "no (team) got a real flow at all." Interestingly, the Roar are yet to concede a single goal thus far this season. In saying this, they have only scored two themselves.
Crowd: 7,066 at Energy Australia Stadium.

Perth Glory 2 - 1 Wellington Phoenix
Perth's Australian and international marquee players, Mile Sterjovski and Robbie Fowler respectively, both scored to put Perth equal top of the A-League ladder. Sterjovski opened the scoring only five minutes in when a clever cut back gave him an easy finish. Fowler doubled the lead on the hour mark when Sterjovski's delicate lob from the left wing ensured Fowler could ease his header past Mark Paston. However, the Glory weren't spared any late scares after Ben Sigmund pegged a goal back with 20 minutes to go. If not for a brilliant save by the Glory's Tando Velaphi in the 82nd minute the game could have finished two-all.
Scorers: Per (Sterjovski 5', Fowler 61') Well (Sigmund 72')  Crowd: 10,844 at NIB Stadium.


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