Don't Believe The Tripe

There were some genuine jaw-dropping moments this weekend, like Ricardinho's cheeky debut goal after he appeared to have stuffed up his chance. Or Brebner's later scorcher.

Or Flores raising the bar yet again after setting the benchmark in sensational goals just a couple of games earlier as Adelaide continued their table-topping unbeaten run.

Defending double titleholders Sydney cruised to yet another defeat in their so far winless season while Phoenix continue to build the walls ever higher at their fortress Cake Tin home, now going 23 games without defeat.

That match was a tale of another two debut goals with Sydney's Brazilian Bruno Cazarine getting his first, but that was overshadowed by Phoenix's matchwinning hero Nick Ward, who bounced back from being dumped by Victory to scored an absolute cracker.

Meanwhile Gold Coast United finally start to get their season underway despite two byes already this season by beating form side Perth Glory in a bruising encounter with marquee Jason Culina getting on the scoreboard but nothing for new boy Bruce Djite.

Of course, it wouldn't be the A-League without a soft red card, buckets of blood or a penalty, or a Kevin Muscat challenge that ends in a fracture, not to mention late goals or desperate defending to protect a lead.

Owners may be choosing not to pay their players, clubs might be capping crowds and fans may not be turning out in quite the same numbers...but the quality of the A-League has never been better.

It's a shame that's not the message that's being spread...

Central Coast Mariners             1 (Daniel McBreen 20')
Melbourne Heart                       0
Referee: Peter Green
Crowd: 6,326

The Mariners briefly went top of the league after their performance on Friday night accounting for the second Melbourne based A League franchise in as many weeks at Bluetongue Stadium.

It was decided by a solitary goal from the hard head of Daniel McBreen who launched himself at the Bojic cross and had more desire and courage than Wayne Shroj to get to the ball first. McBreen celebrated by having a nap and subsequently put Melbourne Heart to sleep as well.

It was McBreen's second attempt on Heart's goal after the first was via a well taken volley that was expertly saved by Clint Bolton. Bozanic impressed throughout the contest and his crossing was often a feature, but it was Royston Griffiths who was the main man for Central Coast.

Anyone could have thought that the game revolved around Michael Beauchamp as he was heavily involved early as his nose was dripping blood like a tap. He spent large amounts of precious game time trying to rectify the problem.

Then early in the second half he tangled with Bozanic who happened to put a foot to Beauchamp's jaw. Beauchamp took exception to this and confronted Bozanic, who didn't take a backwards step as both players pushed their heads together.

Despite Peter Green witnessing the whole incident, he took a different view and decided that a straight red card to the Heart defender was warranted. To add to the curiosity of Green's decision, he awarded a free kick outside the box when it was definitely inside the penalty box.

Central Coast didn't take advantage of the situation and survived a very late attempt by Heart to get an equaliser with John Aloisi wasting a golden opportunity. Clint Bolton even ventured forward for a late corner with no success.

Man of the Match: Central Coast Mariners’ Rostyn Griffiths was excellent anchoring the midfield; he stopped many attacking moves for the Heart, as well as creating multiple chances for his own side.

Weakest Player: It was just one of those days for Melbourne Heart’s Michael Beauchamp. He missed much of the first half due to injury and earned a red card soon into the second half for unprofessional violent conduct. Match ratings by Arabella Vaughan

Wellington Phoenix     2 (Paul Ifill 50’, Nick Ward 72’)
Sydney FC                   1 (Bruno Cazarine 67’)
Referee: Chris Beath
Crowd: 8,453

Sydney took their tour of woe to Wellington with a snowball's chance in hell of notching their first win of the season. Whilst many teams around the league talk of making their home grounds a fortress, Wellington have the real deal in the Cake Tin.

Though betting agencies gave Sydney little chance, the sky blues gave themselves every opportunity for success with a vastly improved performance despite their missing personnel. Their passing surpassed anything they have exhibited during the season.

Their Brazilian forward Bruno made his first start and showed flashes of what he could provide. His combination with Bridge set up their only goal that was well taken. Despite their improvement, they left Wellington with no points and a bye to look forward next week.

Wellington started brightly with Paul Ifill doing what he does best, dancing through defenders and providing pin point passes. Tim Brown spurned one such opportunity into the cross bar.

Vukovic made his first start for Phoenix and looked shaky at times especially after charging out to meet the ball only to be beaten by Jamieson. Phoenix's first goal came from a clumsy challenge from a corner by Bruno on Sigmund resulting in a penalty dispatched by Ifill.

The winner was provided by Phoenix new recruit Ward with a screamer from outside the box giving Reddy little opportunity to save. Wellington won as expected, but the result was a lot harder to achieve than expected.

Man of the Match – A thoroughly impressive performance from new signing Nick Ward will have delighted Ricki Herbert with his brilliant strike proving to be the winner for the Wellington Phoenix. Bruno Cazarine was another recent arrival who made a good impression; linking nicely with Mark Bridge for Sydney FC’s goal while displaying his aerial prowess.

Weakest Player – Sydney FC’s Rhyan Grant did not seem comfortable playing in his right-sided midfield position and will have been disappointed to have had any potential influence limited. Match ratings by Matthew Dorman.

Adelaide United            2 (Mathew Leckie 23, Marcos Flores 66’)
Newcastle Jets             1 (Sean Rooney 90’)
Referee: Ben Williams
Crowd: 9,571

These teams met in the first round and provided a very dull 0-0 draw that left the Hindmarsh faithful with the overwhelming need to boo their home team. Whilst the fortunes of Adelaide have changed significantly since that encounter, Newcastle's have taken a nose dive off the pitch and stagnated on the pitch.

The Jets have only scored one goal this season, the good news from this match was that they doubled their goals for tally for the campaign. Michael Bridges was again a shining light for the Novocastrians as he orchestrated their most dangerous attacking moments of the contest.

They were unlucky not to score from one of these thrusts when Brockie recieved the ball from a break out only to hit the upright, and Galekovic saved the rebound shot from D'Apuzzo. 

Adelaide show no sign of slowing down this season, and they hit the lead via a Cassio cross and a Leckie header, which in itself is rare as Leckie is often seen racing away to score. Without a doubt their most impressive performer this season has been Marcos Flores.

Flores offered up another contender for goal of the season, as he recieved the ball inside the attacking half and dribbled past several Jets defenders leaving them floundering and tripping in his wake before striking the ball into the top right hand corner.

A goal characteristic of his class, and as individual an effort as you will see.

Man of the Match: Adelaide United’s Marcos Flores put in an outstanding all-round performance and capped it off with a fantastic individual goal.

Weakest Player: The Newcastle Jets’ central defensive pairing of Ljubo Milicevic and Nikolai Topor-Stanley didn’t have a great night at the office and often just sat back and let the Reds attack run at them without a challenge. - AV

Melbourne Victory        3 (Tom Pondeljak 51’, Ricardinho 56’, Grant Brebner 71’)
Brisbane Roar              0
Referee: Ryan Shepheard
Crowd: 13,792

Roar's bright start to the season was obliterated as Victory achieved their first win at AAMI Park. The first half was a cagey affair with the closest attempt on goal provided by Hernandez from a free kick situation that Theoklitos tipped on to the cross bar.

The second half was all Melbourne, thanks to more than 50 percent of an assist from Brisbane's defence. Victory's first goal was handed to them via an errant back pass from DeVere that Pondeljak pounced on and squeezed a shot through the legs that dribbled into the net.

This was closely followed by another defensive mixup between  DeVere and Theoklitos that allowed Ricardinho to slip his foot in and poke the ball into the net.

Their third was a ball that fell to Brebner after Roar failed to clear the area, and the Scot fired a rocket of a shot into the hearts of Brisbane's players.

Roar were well and truly bullied by the experienced Melbourne team. Henrique suffered early with a suspected fracture to his arm. Murdocca was shirt fronted behind play by Broxham. The referee allowed play to continue on multiple occasions and it took until the 73rd minute for a card to appear and it was for kicking the ball away.

Brisbane only have themselves to blame, from the brain explosions at the back to the inability to find a meaningful attempt on goal during the entire contest. Victory won due to being direct, and Roar played with the ball too much with the bulk of their possession occurring in the middle third.

Man of the Match – A super goal from the edge of the area from Melbourne Victory’s Grant Brebner was undoubtedly deserved after his consistently strong defensive midfield performance.

Weakest Player – Brisbane Roar’s Luke DeVere, Kosta Barbarouses and Reinaldo were all severe underperformers. DeVere’s promising start to the season received its first blemishes with a couple of critical errors, Barbarouses was far too often guilty of losing possession while Reinaldo struggled to find any decent touches on the ball. A forgettable afternoon for the trio. - MD

Perth Glory                  0
Gold Coast United        1 (Jason Culina 23’)
Referee: Matthew Breeze
Crowd: 10,450

Perth's unbeaten run came to an abrupt halt after Gold Coast United ventured to nibStadium and raided Glory of all three points. It was a spiteful encounter that only saw two yellow cards issued but it could well have been more and even a couple of reds to that tally.

As usual Jacob Burns was in the thick of the action all game treading the line between hard and thug continuously. Early on he committed one of those fouls against Traore and for the rest of the half engaged in a battle with Caravella after the two engaged in multiple clashes.

Perth huffed and puffed but they couldn't blow down Gold Coast's goal and find an equaliser to Culina's first half goal. At times Perth players seemed more involved in the physical contest rather than the football match. Mile Sterjovski seemed intent on collecting a yellow card which he eventually did achieve.

Gold Coast failed to add to their goal advantage although they had at least two golden opportunities. Adama Traore was magnificent for the visitors despite being targeted by the boys in purple. Traore was a constant threat down the wings and his close control was at times breathtaking. Gold Coast did well to maintain their composure whilst Perth were intent on rattling them.

Man of the Match: Gold Coast United’s Adama Traore played a fine game, linking up well with Socceroo Jason Culina, who also had a good outing. Bruce Djite’s good performance was a positive sign for the Gold Coast in his first match after returning from Europe.

Weakest Player: No particular player underperformed in what was a disappointing afternoon for Perth Glory, however, Scott Neville was partially at fault for the goal, neglecting to mark Jason Culina at the far post.- AV

Hyundai A-League 2010/11 League Table

Hyundai A-League 2010/11 - Leading Goal-Scorers

3 - Paul IFILL, Mathew LECKIE, Mile STERJOVSKI

2 - Jason CULINA, Marcos FLORES, Robbie FOWLER, Chris GREENACRE, Chris GROSSMAN, Branko JELIC, Nick KALMAR, Daniel MCBREEN, Kevin MUSCAT, Chris PAYNE, Shane SMELTZ, Iain RAMSAY, Sergio VAN DIJK, David WILLIAMS

1 -  Eli BABALJ, Kosta BARBAROUSES, Leo BERTOS, Grant BREBNER, Jeremy BROCKIE, Alex BROSQUE, Leigh BROXHAM, Bruno CAZARINE, Billy CELESKI, Isaka CERNAK, Shannon COLE, Dyron DAAL, Mate DUGANDZIC, Iain FYFE, Rhyan GRANT, Rostyn GRIFFITHS, Jamie HARNWELL, Scott JAMIESON, Stephan KELLER, Terry MCFLYNN, Matt MCKAY, Daniel MULLEN, Scott NEVILLE, Tom PONDELJAK, Patricio PEREZ, Ricardinho, Sean ROONEY, Gerald SIBON, Ben SIGMUND, Matt SIMON, Eugene SSEPPUYA, Alex WILKINSON, Nick WARD, Rutger WORM