(ALREADY CONFIRMED) Adelaide United 0-3 Gold Coast United
In one of the shocks of the season so far, Gold Coast banished their horrendous form of late to shine through and score 3 sublime goals. In what is only their second win of the season, Ben Halloran opened the scoring with a poachers finish after an error from the Reds' defence. Rigters then scored a screamer from 20 yards to effectively seal the points, and with no sign of an Adelaide comeback, Gold Coast forward Dylan Macallister piled on the misery for the home support in typical style with a deft finish inside injury time.
The result leaves GCU still at the bottom, but within reach of 8th placed Melbourne Victory, and such a thrashing will do no harm to their morale, with team spirit reportedly lacking at Skilled Park. Meanwhile, Adelaide coach Rini Coolen is no doubt feeling the pressure, with so much promise being shown by the Adelaide team during pre-season, but nothing coming from it, and they will be looking to bounce back against Sydney next week.
Dukey's One 2 Watch: Brisbane Roar - Central Coast Mariners
Date: Saturday, 17 December, 2011
Kick-off: 6.45pm (Queensland time)
Venue: Suncorp Stadium
This one is a biggy. Brisbane and Central Coast both find themselves level on points at the top of the A-League table, knowing that a victory would not only give them the lead, but also a bit of breathing room over their opponents and would leave CCM 3 points ahead with a game in hand over their bitter rivals. Overall, history is kinder to Brisbane, with the Roar winning 14, drawing 12 and losing 12 of their previous matches with Central Coast, with whom they last played out a thrilling 1-0 win back in October. With their impeccable loss-less streak over, and with the loss to Wellington still bringing tears to the eyes of many fans, they will no doubt be looking to reassert their dominance at the top of the table. While the Mariners have no major injury worries, Brisbane's forward 3 - Matt Smith, Henrique and Thomas Broich are all out with injuries, though after sitting out Wednesday's loss to Wellington, Smith is hoping to feature. This could be key to CCM pulling off a victory at Suncorp stadium.
Looking at the form table:
Brisbane Roar: WWLLL
Central Coast: DWWWW
We can see that it is not a good time to be playing Central Coast, while the total opposite can be said of 'Roarcelona'. And for those of you who can remember the intense 2011 Grand Final, you know that this is going to be a cracker. My prediction? Central Coast Win.
Newcastle Jets - Sydney FC
Date: Saturday, December 17
Kick-off: 5.30pm AEDT
Venue: Ausgrid Stadium
A mid-table affair, both sides will be looking for the win that could elevate them to 3rd in the table (should other results go their way of course). Unluckily for Jets fans, out of 20 games, Sydney have won 11, with Newcastle only winning 3. However, a quick look at the form table:
Newcastle: LLDWL
Sydney FC: WLLWD
...is inconclusive. Both teams have had similar luck over the past few games, however, it is fair to say that have played (and beaten) Brisbane, and played Central Coast aswell, Sydney have had a harder time of it than Newcastle, though they could only muster a draw against bottom-of-the-table Gold Coast. The last match between these two teams ended in a 1-1 draw, and with neither team having any particular injury worries, I can't see this match being anything other than a draw, but perhaps a Sydney win. I just can't see Newcastle edging this one. Draw
Perth Glory - Melbourne Heart
Date: Saturday, 17 December 2011
Kick-off: 7:00pm AWST, 10:00pm (AEDT),
Venue: nib Stadium
With Heart only being a couple of years old, we can't really look back to see how this might end - the record stands at Perth W1, D3, Hearts W0. However, we can check the form tables to give us an idea.
Perth Glory: LDLWL
Melbourne Heart: WWLWW
Heart. Though they lost this match in October, 2-1, a total reversal of fortune has occured, and they now find themselves in 3rd going into the match knowing a victory would see them two points behind Roar (since they have already played an extra game...rather screwed up a direct league comparison there). Oh, did I mention? They were also recently the first team since January 2010 to take points of Brisbane at Suncorp stadium. Yeah, I know. After a string of solid performances, all eyes will be on Eli Babalj, the Heart 19-year old striker being at the...heart of Heart's scintillating form. For readers from the UK wanting something to support here, there happens to be an Irishman playing - a fairly influential one at that aswell, Billy Mehmet for Perth. I'm going to go with a Melbourne Heart victory.
Melbourne Victory - Wellington Pheonix
Date: Sunday December 18
Kick-off: 5:00pm AEDT, 7.00pm NZDT
Venue: AAMI Park, Melbourne
My, oh my. What has happened to Victory recently? Just a couple of years ago they seemed like becoming the dominant force in Aussie football. Now they're languishing in 8th place in the table, while Pheonix are up in the heady heights of 4th place.
Melbourne: DDWLD
Wellington Phoenix: DWLWW
There's the problem, in black and white. See those D's? They should be W's. Melbourne just haven't been scoring enough. I've been sat here for a while trying to pick through why exactly this is happening, but I can't even blame injury. Perhaps it's just the England effect. For those of you who aren't familiar with this - we Englishmen are painfully aware of the devastation it can bring to a team - the team had such expectation on them from the beginning of the season, and nerves got to them. But enough about them. Wellington are a team high on confidence, having secured their first back to back wins for a year and a half. I would definitely expect to see them make light of their fairly dismal record against the Victory at AAMI Park on sunday (the record which, by the way stands at 5 Melbourne wins to 2 Wellington wins, with their most recently match being a 2-1 Melbourne win).
In case you weren't sure, that's a bigtime Wellington Pheonix win. Watch the blues prove me wrong now.
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