IT'S NOT often that I miss a Melbourne Victory home game; up until Saturday night in the first four and half seasons of the A-League I have only missed two games at either Olympic Park or the stadium of many names in Docklands.

Saturday night became the third such time where I failed to show my support for my team by my non-attendance. And by the sounds of it, it was probably a good thing I wasn't there to witness the worst result on home soil. When I say by the sounds of it, I did still manage to listen to the disastrous result on the radio, and it sure didn't make for easy listening.

For the second time this season, Central Coast Mariners have come to Melbourne with a plan and executed it perfectly. What is that plan you may ask? It's simple; make Victory play ugly, because when Melbourne start playing ugly, you know you have won at least half the battle.

I won't say Central Coast drag Victory down to their level as I will more than likely be accused of Mariner bashing, but going on this season's two clashes, it's more like they have this ability to put Melbourne off their game plan.

It's as if the Mariners make Melbourne forget that they have one of the most creative midfields in the competition and try to match Central Coast physically. Try as we might, we are never going to win that battle and the end result would be much like, say, the Mariners, trying to go to head to head against a team like, say, Arsenal, and trying to match their style of play. It ain't going to be pretty, and by all accounts on Saturday it wasn't.

The Mariners are a known entity, their style hasn't really changed since day one and quite frankly, we should have known better. And no, Mr Commentator on the ABC who did a rather good job but whose name slips my mind, Central Coast are not our bogey side. Not yet, anyway.

There is also no need to hit the panic button, as it was quite correctly noted, we have only lost two matches of our last ten. What is of concern however is that both of those losses have taken place at home in front of the fans and have been of the demoralising nature. Not really the best way to attract more people to the game is it?

Neil wonders why that after Round 15, with the season being only a little past the halfway mark, Melbourne will have played Brisbane Roar the requisite three times. He also wonders if it is wrong to support New Zealand in their quest to make it to the World Cup.