AFTER a couple of weeks whereby most pro Aussie clubs cooled their heels due to FIFA dates, the A-League was back in full swing over the past three days.

The quality and type of goals was vast and varied, with the leagues best eager to produce the goods after their time out of the limelight.

On to the gongs then...

Goal of the Round

There were 12 goals scored in the five games over the weekend, with the most interesting thing to note perhaps the diversity of the strikes.

Poor defending certainly contributed to Chris Payne's opener for Fury against Glory, but nothing should take away from the sharp angled hit the young striker produced to leave Aleks Vrteski snatching at air.

Nor should the static defending of Englishman Andy Todd lessen the mark given to David Williams for his speed and fine low finish which secured Fury victory and condemned Perth to their fifth consecutive loss.

Fresh from an ultra-wannabe chucking a bottle at him, Carlos Hernandez broke his duck for the season by nodding home a precise Tom Pondeljak ball, while across the ditch Chris Greenacre looked a contender with his classy curling shot past Clint Bolton.

But this week's winner is former Jet, Matt Thompson. The Heart utility showed silky skills to wriggle between two would-be Phoenix defenders, before finishing nonchalantly to give his team the lead.

A great goal by a great player. A+ Thommo.

Save of the Round

Round 10 was probably lighter on in the stunning saves stakes than other weeks, but in my opinion three keepers managed to rustle up the goods to rate a mention.

Ever present awards blog nominee Justin Pasfield again makes the cut, with his flying effort to send Steven McGarry's curling shot away for a corner earning him recognition this time out.

Food for thought: Pasfield's certainly a talented stopper, but does it say more about him or Franz Straka's men that he features so regularly?

Second on the list this week is Ben Kennedy. This time last year 'BK' was having his place in the first team snatched from him by Neil Young, but with stops like he produced to deny Thomas Broich from range, it'll certainly be tough to shift Kennedy from top spot again.

Last on the list this week is Michael Petkovic. The Victory custodian has had a topsy-turvy start to life in the A-League but his flying save from Shannon Cole's cracking effort was a sparkling testament to his talent.

After some consideration, I've opted for Kennedy by a whisker. It wasn't the first time BK had denied Broich in the match, and it's fair to say his all round performance was what ultimately earned the Jets a point.

Former A-Leaguer Abroad Award

This newly created award is for former players doing the business overseas, preferably in as obscure a league as possible.

And the inaugural winner is he of North Queensland Fury fame, Terry Cooke.

A random search alerted me to the fact that Cooke is now plying his trade in the Azerbaijan Premier League for Gabala FC (FK Qäbälä). Coached by former Arsenal stalwart Tony Adams, you may be interested to know 'the Radars' won 2-0 away to northern rivals Simurq PFK last up. Probably not.

But they most certainly are a club with big ambitions, the sort of which should resemble our own A-League clubs. Just check their impressive stadium/facilities vid below. The project is due for completion in 2011.

Top Tweets

The #aleague twitterati were out in force over the weekend, producing a host of 140-character real-time blurbs for the attention of the hash-tag's aficionados.

With Carlos Hernandez finally getting off the mark this campaign, streetruffian quizzed whether his performance was location related - "Does Carlos play better at Etihad because it is closer to Nandos?"

Rambogoraya offered some advice to Roar's diminutive midfield duo - "McKay and Murdocca. Do not shoot unless you can literally blow the ball over the line".

While thefootballsack indicated the detectives should be out on Glory captain Jacob Burns: "Jacob Burns is the biggest thug in the #Aleague. How he hasn't been sent off this season is a mystery only Angela Lansbury could solve."

Till next week, enjoy the wonderful world of football...

Follow me on twitter @BennyONeill