A-League Matchday 8 Wrap

Brisbane Roar 2-4 Melbourne Victory

An exciting affair which lived up to the hype, Melbourne Victory continue to impress after putting four clinical goals past the Roar in arduous conditions at Suncorp Stadium.

While the match was only given the greenlight hours before kick off the conditions were anything but ideal with the pitch being quite heavy.

After a difficult start to the season the Roar sought to put their worries behind them and attack the Victory with their physicality, coming out aggressively and making their opponents earn every touch.

Brisbane should have had the opener one minute in, having two attempts cleared off the line from Ola Toivonen and Keisuke Honda in a frantic opening minute.

Though the Victory were not prepared to be fazed and were rewarded for their patience as James Troisi found teammate Kosta Barbarouses with a chipped through ball before the Kiwi international volleyed the opener.

Tempers were then flared as Eric Bautheac was unable to control his emotions and slid in only to collect Corey Brown and his marching orders which significantly changed the game.

Brisbane did get back into the contest through an Adam Taggart penalty however this was shortlived as the Victory hit back through Ola Toivonen who finished a well worked goal, the type which has become Victory’s trademark this season.

Brisbane’s woes were exacerbated when the Victory were awarded a penalty for what Roar manager John Aloisi believed was a controversial call. The referee penalizing Daniel Bowles for having his arm in an unnatural position when the ball struck it.

The protests and jeers from the Roar weren’t enough to put off Keisuke Honda who slotted the penalty to give Victory a two goal buffer.

Victory looked as though they would go into the break with a nice buffer but this was very quickly trimmed as Ola Toivonen headed an own goal to get Brisbane back into the game heading into the main break.

There was however one more twist to come in this opening period.

A set play from the corner saw Barbarouses combing with Honda and Troisi to score Victory’s fourth and arguably the goal of the night, making the Victory bench very proud.

Half time came and the game had seen six goals and a sending off.

While no goals went in during the second half tempers continued to flare among the Brisbane players as their frustration continues to build.

Wellington Phoenix 2 – 0 Central Coast Mariners

The Wellington Phoenix have won two games in a row and are back inside the top six after defeating the Mariners 2-0 at home.

After a big win  against Sydney FC last week the Phoenix knew how significant this match was for their season, especially considering they came in as favourites.

Louis Fenton got the ball rolling, opening the scoring in the 9^th minute for the home side.

Back from injury Fillip Kurto did well to keep the Mariners out who were doing everything to get back into the game and at other end Phoenix young gun Sarpreet Singh continued to cause problems.

Wellington were rewarded for their dominance with a goal right before the break.

New Zealand’s newest citizen Roy Krishna continuing to display strong leadership as he provided the assist for young Singh who doubled Wellington’s lead with his weaker foot.

The margin was a bridge too far for the Mariners who despite having good individual performances from the likes of Aiden O’Neil and Jordan Murray, were unable to pose too much of a threat to the Phoenix who now sit sixth on the table.

Western Sydney Wanderers 1-3 Sydney FC

Another Sydney Derby, another game full of drama and action saw Sydney FC continue their dominance over their cross-town rivals in a much-needed win over the Western Sydney Wanderers at ANZ Stadium.

However, the home side were able to establish the lead early when Oriol Riera gave the Wanderers the lead inside the opening twenty-five minutes.

The game changed entirely when Wanderers keeper, Vedran Janjetovic was sent-off for a handball outside the area and Sydney were able to establish dominance soon after.

This saw German talisman, Alex Baumjohann sacrificed for goal-keeper Danijel Nizic to the dismay of the German who was seen to be quite upset with the decision to take him off.

On the stroke of half-time, Alex Brosque was able to peg one back for the away side and after a rebound from a Josh Brillante shot to bring the Sky Blues level at the interval.

Soon after it was all Sydney as Siem de Jong was able to tap home just after the break to give Steve Corica’s side the lead and in the process, scoring his first A-League goal.

Sydney were able to seal the game when Jacob Tratt scored his first A-League goal to seal the three points and put them back into third place.

They will now travel to Perth to face the Glory on Friday night at NIB Stadium while the Wanderers who sit in eighth place will face Adelaide on Boxing Day.

Newcastle Jets 0-2 Perth Glory

The Perth Glory survived a major scare in their victory over the Jets with a two-goal win at McDonalds Jones Stadium on Sunday evening.

Neil Kilkenny’s dispatched penalty and a Jason Davidson tap-in saw Tony Popovic’s men with an early head start on their Novocastrian rivals.

The Glory, however, were challenged by Ernie Merrick’s men who lacked the clinical nature to get back in the game with over 22 shots throughout the ninety.

The game could have seen an entirely different story had it not been for a brilliant Liam Reddy save from a Jair volley which cancelled out what would have been the quickest A-League goal recorded.

The Brazilian, continued to be a threat as he twice was denied with one hitting the cross-bar and forcing another brilliant save out of Reddy to keep the Glory two up at the half-time break.

For the remainder of the game, the Jets regained much of the ball and chances on goal but still lacked polish inside the box to bring their side back into proceedings despite the best efforts of Dimitri Petratos and Ronald Vargas.

Perth were able to hold on for a much needed three points as they regained top spot from the Victory and continued their undefeated start to the season.

While for the Jets they still find themselves outside the six and will welcome back key striker, Roy O’Donovan for their F3 Derby next week against bottom-placed, Central Coast Mariners.

Adelaide United 0-2 Melbourne City

Melbourne City relieved some much-needed pressure off head-coach, Warren Joyce with an impressive two goal win over Adelaide United at Coopers Stadium on Sunday evening.

An early own-goal from Adelaide defender, Jordan Elsey saw the away side take the lead inside twenty-five minutes before a Luke Brattan strike doubled their lead just after half-time to seal the points.

The Reds very well could have been ahead at the break had it not been for some missed chances from Craig Goodwin.

However, Brattan’s strike after half-time saw City cruise to a well-deserved win for Joyce’s charges who bounced back brilliantly after a loss the week prior.

Adelaide responded swiftly but were unable to capitalize on their chances with both Goodwin and Scott Galloway as Eugene Galekovic made some fantastic saves to preserve the result.

The win for City puts them into fourth place on the A-League table as they head into a Melbourne Derby on Saturday night with a load of momentum after a much-needed result.

However, for Marco Kurz’ men they succumbed to a second-successive defeat and now have a nine-day break before facing the Western Sydney Wanderers on Boxing Day.