All twelve A-League Men's clubs played with four teams claiming wins and four claiming draws. Below is a review of the week and each match.

Round Three Key Points

  • Macarthur's win propels them to first in the ladder ahead of Melbourne Victory.
  • Sydney FC scored their first goals of this campaign but have yet to find a win.
  • Perth Glory decisively won their game despite missing important members of their squad.

The Round Three A-League Men's schedule can be found using this link.

The third round of the 2021-22 A-League Men's season saw the end to Victory's hundred percent winning record, Phoenix's unbeaten streak and resulted in Roar finally getting their first point. The player of the round is arguably Valentino Yuel, whose brace helped rescue a point for Newcastle Jets.  However, several players shined this week including previously unknown ones.

Four teams remain winless after three rounds.  The A-League Men's ladder is now as follows:

Position Club MP W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Macarthur 3 2 1 0 3 1 2 7
2 Melbourne Victory 3 2 0 1 4 3 1 6
3 Western United 3 2 0 1 2 1 1 6
4 Western Sydney Wanderers 3 1 2 0 4 2 2 5
5 Perth Glory 3 1 1 1 4 2 2 4
6 Melbourne City 3 1 1 1 4 4 0 4
7 Wellington Phoenix 3 1 1 1 3 4 -1 4
8 Adelaide United 3 0 3 0 3 3 0 3
9 Central Coast Mariners 3 1 0 2 3 4 -1 3
10 Newcastle Jets 3 0 2 1 5 6 -1 2
11 Sydney FC 3 0 2 1 2 3 -1 2
12 Brisbane Roar 3 0 1 2 1 5 -4 1

Wellington Phoenix 0-2 Western Sydney Wanderers

Wellington's unbeaten streak came to an end this weekend in a controversial manner. The first goal of the game in the 66th minute was sent to VAR review to evaluate whether Tomer Hemed's shot had crossed the line.

After the VAR review, referee Stephen Lucas gave the goal to Hemed, a former Phoenix and now Wanderers striker. The controversial part of the decision was not the allocation of the goal by referee Lucas but the miss of a foul on Phoenix defender Callan Elliot by video assistance referee Kris Griffiths-Jones.

In replays one can see that Elliot seems to be brought down by Wanderer's Rhys Williams clearing the way for the goal. Phoenix has since lodged a formal complaint.

Late in the second half, Wellington keeper Oli Sands ventured forward to help on a corner and try to rescue the point. The ball fell to Wanderers John Koutroumbis who then made a full field run to score for Western Sydney.  

The game ended 2-0 and was the first victory of the season for Wanderers after two draws.  Wellington now have one win, one draw and one loss.

Attendance: 1948 (Game delayed due to weather)

Brisbane Roar 0-0 Adelaide United

The first match of Saturday ended in a nil-nil draw.  The game was not without its moments though, with both teams creating chances requiring both goalies to step in to save their sides on a number of occasions.  

Several infractions by players required referee Chris Beath to distribute no less than eight yellow cards with United's Javi Lopez seeing red in the 95th minute after having received his second yellow. 

The draw gave the Roar their first point of this 2021-22 campaign after having lost their first two matches.  Adelaide now have three points after three draws and remain one of the three unbeaten teams.

Attendance: 6549

Sydney FC 2-2 Newcastle Jets

Sydney were hosting Newcastle Jets this weekend with both teams looking for their first win of the season. The Blues opened the scoring in the ninth minute.  Jets keeper Jack Duncan came off his line and slid to get the ball but took down Adam Le Fondre in the process.  Le Fondre was able to convert his penalty to make it 1-0.  

Elvis Kamsoba doubled Sydney's lead in the 30th minute scoring his first goal in blue.  The hosts looked like they were headed for victory at halftime.  However, an eight-minute second half brace by Jets' Valentino Yuel rescued the point for his side.

The South Sudanese winger's first came in the 58th minute of play when he received a perfectly weighted pass in front of goal and shot it past Redmayne.  Eight minutes later Yuel received a pass deep in Sydney's half and was able to outmaneuver Rhyan Grant and get a shot off to make it two. 

The draw leaves Sydney FC without a win this season. However, the club and their fanbase will at least be relieved they have finally found the back of the net. Newcastle have had no problem in this area, currently the highest scoring team but they will need to stop their conceding as they go forward in order to climb the ladder.

Attendance: 7019

Melbourne City 0-1 Western United

A well organized United defence and a first half goal resulted in Western ending City's six match unbeaten streak in the A-League.  The winning goal came in the 20th minute of the match.  

The play started when Western's captain Alessandro Diamanti was able to pick up a ball and send in a perfectly placed pass to Wendel-Halls.  The youngster's shot then got it past City keeper Tom Glover to make it 1-0.

While both teams had good chances later on in the match, including a Lachie Wales 30th minute Western goal that was disallowed due to a foul, neither side was able to change the 20th minute scoreline. 

City have now fallen to mid-table after the loss while United are now third.

Attendance: 6943

Macarthur FC 1-0 Central Coast Mariners

Macarthur have remained undefeated this season with their win over Mariners.  However, this last result was largely due to a lucky deflection than overall superior play.  

The only goal of the match occurred in the 45th minute courtesy of an Oliver Bozanic own goal.  Macarthur captain Ulises Davila took a shot from the top of the box.  It ricocheted off the Mariners' captain and past keeper Lawrence Caruso.

It was an unfortunate first goal to concede for the young keeper on his A-League Men's debut.  The 17 year old was called in as a replacement for an injured Yaren Sözer in the 23rd minute of play.  Sözer himself was replacing starting keeper Mark Birighitti who was suspended after having picked up a red card in the club's FFA Cup match last Wednesday.

Macarthur are now top of the ladder with seven points.  The defeat has pushed Mariners to ninth place in the A-League Men's.

Attendance: 3014

Melbourne Victory 0-3 Perth Glory

A 10-man Melbourne Victory succumbed to Perth Glory with the latter club's new signing Burke-Gilroy coming out as the player of match.  The visitors largely capitalized on their man advantage in the second half after Victory midfielder Rai Marchan was sent off at the end of the first.  

It was the Perth midfielder Burke-Gilroy who opened the scoring in the 66th minute with a stunning long range shot that weaved through three defenders and past the keeper.

Burke-Gilroy was then involved in Perth's second goal, supplying a quality cross that found 19-year old attacker Ciaran Bramwell who deflected it in to make it in to make it 2-0 for Glory.  Bruno Fornaroli then made it 3-0 with his 88th minute goal.

The win was an impressive one for Perth considering they were without captain Brandon O'Neill, starting keeper Brad Jones, marquee player Daniel Sturridge and Andy Keogh.  Victory were without Roderick Miranda and Chris Ikonomidis.

The loss dropped Victory out of the top spot to second while Perth has now climbed fifth in the ladder.

Attendance: 14122

PLUS...

Grant to miss two weeks of A-league due to COVID

Sydney FC announced that one of their A-League Men's players has tested positive for COVID-19.

PLUS...

Exclusive: Turkish giants chase ex A-League winger

Exclusive: A clutch of Turkey's biggest clubs are eyeing a move for former A-League winger Joey Champness next month.

The full 2021 A-League Men's schedule can be found using this link.