Gold Coast United in prospect offered a wealth of opportunities before the fifth season of the A-League began. Their marquee was high-profile frontline Socceroo Jason Culina, their home ground was a stunning 27,500 seater stadium, and their owner was local billionaire Clive Palmer.

How the mighty have fallen.

On Saturday night, just over 2600 people attended the Gold Coast's home match against North Queensland Fury, a team sporting international drawcard Robbie Fowler in their ranks.

What is worse, Gold Coast crashed to an embarrassing defeat at the hands of a team they had beaten 5-0 less than three months ago.

Palmer's crowd-capping scheme drew hoots and howls of disapproval from those in attendance - some calling for the main man to relinquish his ownership, or at the very least take a less visible back seat.

Where the club goes to from here remains to be seen, though pundits and puritans agree that something drastic needs to be done for United to stay afloat.

The round began on Friday night with a clash between Brisbane Roar and Newcastle Jets, two teams who were desperate to make their way towards the top of the table.

Newcastle 'keeper Ben Kennedy was tested regularly by Tommy Oar, Danny Tiatto and van Dijk throughout the match, with van Dijk going perilously close in the 62nd minute after a failed clearance from Kennedy.

It was the visitors who struck first through Labinot Haliti, who was on hand to tuck away a pin-point cross from Michael Bridges.

The tempo lifted and Roar's response was swift, even if it was largely thanks to a handball from Jets defender Adam D'Apuzzo.

Sergio van Dijk coolly tucked away the resulting penalty to get the home side back into the game.

Brisbane pressed for the winner from this point on, though the visitors had their fair share of chances to take all three points, with Jin-Hyung Song's long-range shot in the 68th minute going within inches of the woodwork

The Jets almost pinched the points in the final move when Roar keeper Griffin McMaster fumbled Fabio Vignaroli's blistering shot on goal, although Brisbane captain Craig Moore was on hand to make the clearance.

Brisbane Roar                          1 (Labinot HALITI 32')

Newcastle Jets                         1 (Sergio VAN DIJK 36' (pen))

Crowd: 7,509

For the second time this season, Canberra played host to an A-League match, though the 5,437-strong crowd that had gathered had little to cheer about throughout the 90 minutes. While both Adelaide United and Central Coast Mariners have found themselves in the top six so far this season, neither turned out an inspired performance.

Central Coast, the official 'home side' for the night, almost had a perfect start when a through midfielder Pedj Bojic, who was enjoying a rare start, found himself one-on-one with United keeper Eugene Galekovic but he failed to finish.

For Adelaide, captain Travis Dodd toyed with defender Nigel Boogard on the left side of the box and before singing a right foot shot curling just wide of the far post.

Kristian Sarkies also went close to putting Adelaide ahead with a long range attempt that was just shy of the cross bar.

Matt Simon went close to scoring for the Mariners late in the first half, with just the fist of Galekovic just denying the young striker.

It took until the 55th minute for the game's first two shots on target, both were attributed to Mariners midfielder Matt Crowell, but it was John Hutchison and Adam Kwasnik who combined in the 73^rd minute to force the best chance of the game. Kwasnik, however, was unable to beat Galekovic. 

Alemao and Fabian Barbiero were making foraying runs and troubling the Coast's defense, and Adelaide's efforts were almost rewarded in the 82^nd minute when Matthew Leckie was brought down in the box by Dean Heffernan, only to see the cries for a penalty waved away.

Minutes later Crowell was sent off for his second bookable offence, but the game petered out to a goalless draw.

Central Coast Mariners                         0

Adelaide United                                    0

Crowd: 5,437

Most of the press centred on Gold Coast United this week has been regarding owner Clive Palmer's decision to cap crowds at 5000 people. With three sides of Skilled Park cordoned off, just 2,616 supporters turned up to see a determined North Queensland Fury take to the field against their side.

Earlier in the season, Gold Coast handed Fury their heaviest ever defeat - a five-nil drumming - on the same stage.

History was not bound to repeat itself; however, as the steely looking Fury outfit took the game to their opponents.

The first real chance of the match fell to Fury in the 20th minute after Daniel McBreen was fouled just outside the top of the 18-yard box. Robbie Fowler then stepped up only to see his left foot strike continue to curl past United's right-hand post.

But Fowler struck the opener on 64 minutes after a sterling run on the wing by David Williams, who beat his defender to cross clinically for his captain.

Fury doubled their lead 10 minutes later when Steve Pantelidis was penalised for handball, and Fowler stepped up to coolly convert from the spot.

Gold Coast United                                0

North Queensland Fury                        2 (Robbie FOWLER 64'/75' (pen))

Crowd: 2,616

A sunny Sydney Sunday afternoon saw Wellington Phoenix - hot on the heals of their electrifying demolition of Gold Coast last weekend - visit the league leaders.

The good fortunes of Phoenix looked to have disappeared after just 60 seconds, when livewire winger Daniel popped his shoulder and was forced to receive treatment on the sidelines. Things went from bad to worse for the visitors when  Ricki Herbert's men lost All White keeper Mark Paston to injury after just seven minutes.

Their woes were to be compounded on the quarter hour mark when Mark Bridge fired home his side's first of the afternoon after an inch-perfect one-two with fellow striker Alex Brosque. It was 2-0 fifteen minutes later when Brosque wriggled clear and unleashed a shot which was parried into the path of the onrushing Steve Corica.

Fourminutes later a third goal for Mark Bridge gave Sydney an unbeatable lead.

Phoenix slowly worked their way back into the game, and were almost rewarded when Paul Ifill was adjudged to have been impeded in the box on the hour mark. Daniel stepped up to calmly convert, only for referee Gerard Parsons to call for a retake, which was subsequently saved by Clint Bolton.

From the resulting play, Sydney broke with speed through Alex Brosque on the right but his inch-perfect cross was just missed by Aloisi in the six-yard box.

Paul Ifill continued to cause problems down the right for the visitors, and it was Phoenix's go-to man who set up young substitute substitute Costa Barbarouses to give the visitors a consolation.

Sydney's commanding performance sees them cement their position at the top of the table.

Sydney FC                               3 (Mark BRIDGE 15'/35', Steve CORICA 31')

Wellington Phoenix                  1 (Costa BARBAROUSES 81')

Crowd: 10,653

The final game of the round saw Melbourne travel to the west to meet a Perth Glory side who were unbeaten at home this season.

The visitors signalled their intention in the sixth minute when an own goal from Chris Coyne fired them ahead.

Despite being without striker Branko Jelic, a late withdrawal with a virus, Glory refused to be bowed, drawing level through a spectacular Mile Sterjovski strike in the 19th minute.

Perth upped the intensity and should have gone ahead through a series of attacks just before the break that were miraculously saved by some desperate Melbourne defence.

But having weathered the storm, Melbourne responded in fine style 23 minutes from time, as Hernandez slid in to meet a powerful cross from Victory substitute Nathan Elasi, slipping the ball home to end Perth's unbeaten record at ME Bank Stadium this season.

Perth Glory                              1 (Mile STERJOVSKI 19')

Melbourne Victory                    2 (Chris COYNE 6' (og), Carlos HERNANDEZ 68')

Crowd: 10,035

Hyundai A-League 2009/10 League Table

Hyundai A-League 2009/10 - Leading Goal-Scorers

10 - Shane SMELTZ

8 - Robbie FOWLER

6 - Mark BRIDGE, Carlos HERNANDEZ

5 - Archie THOMPSON, Mile STERJOVSKI, Sergio VAN DIJK

4 - John ALOISI, Branko JELIC, Victor SIKORA

3 - Tim BROWN, Steve CORICA, Chris GREENACRE, HENRIQUE, Labinot HALITI, Lucas PANTELIS, REINALDO, Matt SIMON

2 - Leo BERTOS, Alex BROSQUE, CASSIO, DANIEL CORTES, CRISTIANO, Jason CULINA, Dyron DAAL, Mate DUGANDZIC, Jason HOFFMAN, John HUTCHINSON, Paul IFILL, Adrian LEIJER, Daniel MCBREEN, Adriano PELLEGRINO, Joel PORTER, Matt SIMON, Jin-Hyung SONG, Wayne SRHOJ, Nicky TRAVIS,

1 - Danny ALLSOPP, Costa BARBAROUSES, Pedj BOJIC, Nigel BOOGAARD, Grant BREBNER, Michael BRIDGES, Isaka CERNAK, Kofi DANNING, Travis DODD, Ney FABIANO, Steven FITZSIMMONS, Iain FYFE, Brendan GAN, Royston GRIFFITHS, Chris GROSSMAN, Labinot HALITI, Troy HEARFIELD, Karol KISEL, Todd HOWARTH, Adam Hughes, , Paul IFILL, Adam KWASNIK, Matthew LECKIE, Michael MCGLINCHEY, Terry MCFLYNN, Charlie MILLER, Tahj MINNIECON, MILSON, Craig MOORE, Kevin MUSCAT, Jason NAIDOVSKI, Mitch NICHOLS, Lloyd OWUSU, Tomislav PONDELJAK, Sean ROONEY, Ben SIGMUND, John TAMBOURAS, Matt THOMPSON, Danny TIATTO, Nick WARD, Alex WILKINSON