Dukey's One 2 Watch: Melbourne Victory 1-1 Adelaide United
Well I thought this game would be a cracker. Both teams on the rise after promising sparkles of form recently. Yes Melbourne lost 2-1 last week, but they have been playing well of late, and when Archie Thompson slotted in after 5 minutes, Magilton's boys looked set to secure a win after a classy first half in which they for the most part dominated. However that man Sergio Van Dijk scored shortly after the interval - his fourth in three games - and the rest of the nail-biting encounter was a tense affair until the final whistle.
I think Harry Kewell is finally finding his feet back in Australia. The amount of crosses he managed to sweep in and his dribbling skills that constantly took him through defenders were a sign of a player gaining confidence after every match, and it wouldn't surprise me to see him start scoring again soon. But it's Sergio Van Dijk who is in form right now. In two weeks, he has scored 3 goals at the same stadium, having bagged a brace against Heart in the other match. Both teams though will hope they can build on this match and go into their next few fixtures strongly.
For Adelaide, this is imperative as they face off against league leaders Central Coast. However, they can at least take solace from the fact that while they were bottom only a couple of weeks ago, they are now in 8th place, level on points with Victory in 6th, and within touching distance of 5th placed Perth. Victory face said Glory side in a match which could propel either side into the battle for second.
Central Coast Mariners 1-1 Newcastle Jets
Newcastle played well in the F3 derby in front of an impressive 10,000 fans at the Bluetongue stadium. As is their tendency, they had a dominant first period, in which Haliti put them away with a fine finish in the 16th minute. They continued to press for a second but, as is their tendency, they petered out (I love it, I never get a chance to use that phrase) in the second half, and Zwaanswijk fully deserved the goal that put Central Coast back in the game.
This result means Mariners have made a club record 13 games without loss and I'll be interested to see if they'll become the new Brisbane. They're only a small community team, so it'll be an immense achievement and a credit to what they've built up there. Newcastle were very good aswell, but as I have said many times before, they need to work on their stamina, as they lost their touch in the second half and appeared dreary.
Next week, Newcastle face Wellington and Central Coast will host Adelaide. While Newcastle are 9th, they are within touching distance of the post-season, and playing mid-table teams like Wellington and beating them is paramount to them making the final 6. For Central Coast, an opportunity beckons to stay ahead in the race to the title.
Brisbane Roar 2-1 Sydney FC
Brisbane pulled off the luckiest of escapes to get two goals in one minute. In fact, watch this video first.
Wow. Sydney led after Bridge gave them a lead in the 38th minute, and for all their trying, they just couldn't hold on, as in the dying minutes, Brisbane launched attack after attack. A free kick conceded let Mohamed Adnan score with a pretty decent effort. From the restart, they attacked immediately and after a rather clumsy cross and a slight deflection, Besart Berisha was in the right place at the right time to divert a header and spark scenes of ecstasy amongst Roar fans in a packed Suncorp stadium.
This was a hell of a game to watch, filled with lots of cheering, ball kicking and commentators sounding like their balls were being squeezed extra tight. I did feel bad for Sydney - some might have said they didnt deserve to have drawn, let alone lost. But it just shws that Brisbane are making their comeback, and I couldn't be happier. It's nice to see that the dark days are over and that we could have a title challenge after all.
Speaking of title challenge, Roar face Melbourne Heart in a match which is sure to generate a lot of goals (he says hopefully). In fact, that's gonna be my One 2 Watch. Sydney face Perth midweek, and will be hoping to break their run of form. Speaking of which...
Melbourne Heart 1-2 Perth Glory
It seems like every team has had a reversal of fortunes after the New Year, and this has all the hall marks of a shocker. Perth, who until recently had been banished to the basement of the A-League somehow managed to outplay a Heart side who, until recently, were mounting their own title challenge though that now appears to be on hold. Shane Smeltz, coming back from injury, scored after 15 minutes and Glory dominated the rest of the half. In the second, Sarkies of Melbourne Heart snatched an equaliser before McGarry sealed the 3 points for Glory who hadn't won back to back away matches since September 2009. Pretty impressive, no?
This was a fairly entertaining game, very open and both sides had plenty of attacks and neither side seemed to be able to gain an advantage. Each goal came as a surprise, although Smeltz really should have scored more, but will no doubt be happy with his 6th goal of the season. Heart really need to try and get out of this rut if they want to continue to push against Brisbane, who they face next week and who won this weekend aswell.
As I said, Melbourne face Brisbane, and Perth will be looking forward to their tie against Sydney midweek and will hope to capitalize on their resurgence.
Gold Coast United 0-1 Wellington Phoenix
I'll add these images in later...blogger is being weird.
Anyway, it was business as usual today as Gold Coast rolled over and showed their bellies to the Phoenix, who gladly stole 3 points from right under their noses. Tim Brown scoring the only goal in a match where, despite what I said a second ago, Gold Coast really did dominate. They did so against Heart last time out, and for some reason they can't seem to turn their dominance into goals. Methinks a new striker is needed. There isn't really that match to say about this game to be fair...Gold Coast had lots of shots and couldn't get any of them in, and Brown managed to get on the end of a free kick to hit home and give Phoenix their 7th win of the campaign and keep them in 4th, still in the race. Gold Coast, however, returned to the bottom of the table and now have a 4 point gap to overcome between them and Newcastle, who...
...play Wellington next week, while Gold Coast will face a tough test against Sydney.
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