Enter The Red Mist

A rash of red cards were seen over four of the five games while Adelaide United continued their march at the top of the pile by disposing of a Perth Glory side that had boasted a similar impressive start.

Sergio Van Dijk continues a streak of pounding home penalty kicks, and has also shown that if he scores one, the odds are he can score a double. Who will stop this Reds mist as it engulfs the league? 

Meanwhile all bar one of the encounters on the weekend yielded red cards as tensions bubbled over in the A-League. Only the encounter between Newcastle Jets and Melbourne Victory remained an 11v11 battle, although maybe a red could have spiced up the 0-0 draw.

Wellington Phoenix 2 (Greenacre 3', Bertos 13')
North Queensland Fury 1 (Hughes 67')
Crowd; 7212 @ Westpac Stadium

Wellington revelled in the comfortable surroundings of the cake tin and welcomed all 3 points into their tally against a North Queensland squad decimated by international duty and other woes. Wellington would have thought they were in for a cake walk early on after they went ahead by 2 due to the windy Wellington conditions and a Justin Pasfield howler, even without talismanic forward Paul Ifill. They then proceeded to make hard work of the remainder of the game by going a man down due to a Vince Lia send off and a Mark Hughes deflected header. The win extended Phoenix’s unbeaten streak at home to 23 which equals the record set by Sydney United.

North Queensland did little to tarnish their reputation of the fighters of the league. They go into every game as the underdog but always have a red hot go. They may argue if you take away the Pasfield miss kick they could have taken a point away from the contest, but on the flipside of the coin Greenacre was given offside from a back header which was incorrectly called offside and a disallowed goal.

Wellington Phoenix line-up: 19.Danny VUKOVIC (gk), 12.Manny MUSCAT, 4.Nick WARD, 6.Tim BROWN, 7.Leo BERTOS (23.Dylan MACALLISTER 91+’), 9.Chris GREENACRE, 11.DANIEL (10.Oscar Roberto CORNEJO 85’), 15.Jade NORTH, 17.Vince LIA, 18.Ben SIGMUND (13.Troy HEARFIELD 81’), 22.Andrew DURANTE (c).
Substitutes Not Used: 1.Mark PASTON (gk)
Yellow Cards: Vince Lia 37’/65’, Leo Bertos 59’, Ben Sigmund 65’, Daniel 69’.
Red Cards: Vince Lia 65’

North Queensland Fury line-up: 1.Justin PASFIELD (gk), 3.Brad McDONALD, 4.Eric AKOTO, 5.Mark HUGHES, 6.Ufuk TALAY (c) (2.Jack HINGERT 74’), 7.Gareth EDDS (21.Jason SPAGNUOLO 63’), 11.David WILLIAMS, 14.Chris GROSSMAN, 16.Simon STOREY, 17.Osama MALIK, 18.Brett STUDMAN,
Substitutes Not Used: 12.Panagiotis NIKAS, 28.Sebastian USAI (gk).
Yellow Cards: Ufuk Talay 65’, Brett Studman 75’.
Red Cards: Nil

Man of the Match - Chris Greenacre battled admirably for the Wellington Phoenix in tough conditions by consistently providing a contest from defensive clearances. The lone striker was ably assisted by the good work of teammate Leo Bertos.

Weakest Player - A silly challenge from Wellington Phoenix's Vince Lia resulted in a sending off, opposition goal and unnecessary pressure for the home team. North Queensland ‘keeper Justin Pasfield will also be looking to rectify his own personal howler. Ratings by Matt Dorman

Adelaide United 2 (van Dijk 70', 73' pen)
Perth Glory 0
Crowd; 13310 @ Hindmarsh Stadium

The Adelaide juggernaut continues without any sign of stopping, easily accounting for a spluttering Perth Glory outfit that are sliding after an undefeated start to the season. While the rest of the league wait for Adelaide to slip up, they continue, business as usual and now with a handy lead at the top of the league.

Sergio Van Dijk looks to further repay the reported mint that Adelaide have paid for him by scoring a brace, one from the spot, which, as Roar fans know, is his forte. Van Dijk’s headed goal oozed class as he met the ball on the outskirts of the box and expertly dispatched it home. Leckie also continued his impressive form and terrorised Glory’s defence all evening.

Jamie Coyne typified Glory’s trip to Hindmarsh, receiving his marching orders in the 75^th minute after receiving his second yellow card. Despite the loss Perth manager Dave Mitchell was happy with his sides performance, but not the result. Next week they face a Brisbane team who are riding high on form and performance.

Adelaide United line-up: 1.Eugene GALEKOVIC (gk), 2.Robert CORNTHWAITE, 4.Iain FYFE, 7.Lucas PANTELIS (c) (17.Iain RAMSAY 87’), 8.Adam HUGHES, 9.Sergio VAN DIJK (16.Inseob SHIN 90+1’), 10.Marcos FLORES, 12.Paul REID, 19.Mathew LECKIE, 24.Cameron WATSON, 26.Joe KEENAN (29.Bradley NORTON 86’)
Substitutes not used: 20.Mark BIRIGHITTI (gk)
Yellow Cards: Robert Cornthwaite 44’, Paul Reid 65’
Red Cards: Nil

Perth Glory line-up: 1.Tando VELAPHI, 3.Jamie COYNE, 4.Andy TODD, 5.Jamie HARNWELL, 7.Jacob BURNS (c), 9.Robbie FOWLER (22.Anthony SKORICH 78’), 10.Michael BAIRD, 14.Steven McGARRY, 17.Todd HOWARTH (2.Josh MITCHELL 78’), 19.Naum SEKULOVSKI, 21.Mile STERJOVSKI
Substitutes not used: 16.Adriano PELLEGRINO, 20.Aleks VRTESKI (gk)
Yellow Cards: Jamie Coyne 38’/75’, Tando Velaphi 73'
Red Cards: Jamie Coyne 75’

Man of the Match - Adelaide United's Mathew Leckie was once again a standout performer; his pace and direct dribbling causing all sorts of headaches for the Perth defence.

Weakest Player - Perth Glory's Jamie Coyne ruined any chances that his side had of a comeback when he received a second yellow card in the 75th minute. The right fullback will have a hard time reclaiming his spot from Scott Neville once his suspension has been served. MD

Brisbane Roar 4 (Barbarouses 24', Paartalu 38', Reinaldo 48' pen, Nicholls 76')
Melbourne Heart 0
Crowd; 6342 @ Suncorp Stadium

One is tempted to use all the cliché’s available when talking about Melbourne Heart’s performance against Brisbane. Instead it would be better focusing on the Roar’s 4 star performance in all facets of the game as they ran the show and ran Melbourne ragged all evening. Despite Brisbane’s entertaining brand of football this season, pundits have continued to harp on about the lack of goals, and this performance can go some way to assuaging those critics. Roar double the goal tally for the season, but it could well have been 7 or 8 as a combination of an outstanding Clint Bolton and a wasteful Brisbane strike force limited the haul to 4. Barbarouses was dangerous all evening, but was ably supported by a midfield that dominated a decimated Heart line-up.

Melbourne went into the contest with Matt Thompson filling in at full back, Colosimo being subbed after half time due to a neck injury, and Dean Heffernan receiving his marching orders via a second encounter with Reinaldo. Despite the personal problems there was a lack of desire amongst the Melbourne players leaving many to question their desire.

Brisbane Roar line-up: 1.Michael THEOKLITOS (gk), 2.Matt SMITH, 3.Luke DEVERE (12.Matt MUNDY 75’), 4.Shane STEFANUTTO, 6.Erik PAARTALU, 7.Kosta BARBAROUSES, 8.Massimo MURDOCCA (14.Rocky VISCONTE 61’), 11.REINALDO, 15.Matt McKAY (c), 22.Thomas BROICH (17.Mitch NICHOLS 56’), 23.Milan SUSAK
Substitutes Not Used: 30.Matt ACTON (gk)
Yellow Cards: REINALDO 54’, Mitch NICHOLS 76’, Shane STEFANUTTO 89’
Red Cards: Nil

Melbourne Heart line-up: 1.Clint BOLTON (gk), 2.Michael MARRONE, 4.Simon COLOSIMO (c) (14.Kamal IBRAHIM 50’), 6.Matt THOMPSON, 7.Rutger WORM (24.Aziz BEHICH 46’), 9.Gerard SIBON, 10.Wayne SRHOJ, 11.Alex TERRA, 15.John ALOISI (22.Nicholas KALMAR 58’), 20.Josip SKOKO, 23.Dean HEFFERNAN
Substitutes Not Used: 12.Peter ZOIS (gk)
Yellow Cards: Dean HEFFERNAN 47’, 54’, Alex TERRA 79’, Josip SKOKO 81’
Red Cards: Dean HEFFERNAN 54’

Man of the match - Brisbane Roar's Matt Smith was absolutely outstanding. He kept the Heart out for virtually the entire game as well as setting up (and nearly scoring!) Brisbane's second goal.

Weakest player - In what was, frankly, an embarrassing night for Heart, Dean Heffernan's performance stood out as being particularly poor. The good form he was in at the Mariners last season seems to have completely disappeared; he was outrun, outplayed and a risky challenge inside the box resulted in him being sent off after 54 minutes. Arabella Vaughan

Newcastle Jets 0
Melbourne Victory 0
Crowd; 8652 @ EnergyAustralia Stadium

If you studied the form guide the odds that this encounter would end up a nil-nil draw should have been very short.

Newcastle’s defence this season has been very serviceable, whereas their attack has been largely impotent. Add in the fact that Michael Bridges was missing all pointed to a score from the Jets that looked like a goose egg.

Victory’s defence has been solid after a spluttering start. Their attack however (despite an aberration against Brisbane at home) has struggled for consistency and health.

This encounter also marked the first game in the new ownership regime, who started with a bang, giving free entry to all those under 15s attending the game.

Newcastle shaded Melbourne in the first half, but their midweek encounter caught up with them in the second as they faded.

Melbourne lacked the killer instinct, and was wasteful in front of goal. Carlos Hernandez continues to leave the pundits wondering if this will be the week that marks the return of the man who took the player of the year award in his stride last season.

Newcastle Jets line-up: 1.Ben KENNEDY (gk), 4.Nikolai TOPOR-STANLEY, 5.Ljubo MILICEVIC (c), 7.Kasey WEHRMAN (3.Adam D’APUZZO 80’), 9.Zhang SHUO (17.Marcello FIORENTINI 70’),10.Ruben ZADKOVICH, 11.Tarek ELRICH, 14.Labinot HALITI (13.Sasho PETROVSKI 70’), 15.Sean ROONEY,19.Ali ABBAS, 21.Brodie MOOY,
Substitutes not used: 40.Matthew NASH (gk)
Yellow Cards: Ruben ZADKOVICH 42’
Red Cards: Nil

Melbourne Victory line-up: 1.Michael PETKOVIC (gk), 5.Surat SUKHA (19.Evan BERGER 56’)  6.Leigh BROXHAM, 9.RICARDINHO (27.Geoff KELLAWAY 73’), 11.Marvin ANGULO, 12.Rodrigo ANGULO, 12.Rodrigo VARGAS, 14.Billy CELESKI, 15.Tomislav PONDELJAK, 16.Carlos HERNANDEZ, 21.Robbie KRUSE (24.Luke PILKINGTON 79’),23.Adrian LEIJER (c)
Substitutes not used:  20.Sebastian MATTEI (gk)
Yellow Cards:  Surat Sukha 18’, Robbie KRUSE 35’, Billy CELESKI 79’
Red Cards: Nil

Man of the match - Melbourne Victory's Rodrigo Vargas had a solid game. The understanding between him and Adrian Leijer has clearly reached new heights in recent weeks and their impressive defensive record in the past month makes you wonder if Kevin Muscat should slot back into the lineup when he returns from injury.

Weakest player - No particular player played badly, however, Newcastle Jets' Zhang Shuo was slightly disappointing but he is still settling into the way the Jets play. AV

Sydney FC 1 (Cazarine 19')
Gold Coast United 1 (Djite 45')
Crowd; 9977 @ SFS

Its round 8 and Sydney FC are still without a victory. So what can you say in a situation like this, “well I’m happy with the way we played”. There is only so many times a manager, a captain, a player can offer up these sorts of sound bites. There were times last season when Sydney’s backs were against the wall but they still managed to get something out of those encounters. Is it too late to write off the season for the Sky Blues, of course it is, but if they don’t start setting the ship in the right direction, it may slip away. Bruno gave the home side the edge with a classy header after 2o minutes. This seemed to awaken Gold Coast and eventually manufactured an equalizer before half time, which was well taken by Djite who scored his first in Gold Coast colours.

Sydney were the more dominant team after the break, and were given more of an opening after John Curtis received a straight red for a reckless aerial elbow into Moriyasu. Despite these advantages Sydney spurned several opportunities as Gold Coast Held on for the draw.

Sydney FC Line-up: 1.Liam REDDY (gk), 2.Sebastian RYALL, 3.Stephan KELLER, 8.Stuart MUSIALIK, 9.Bruno CAZARINE, 12.Shannon COLE (7.Brendan GAN 82’), 14.Alex BROSQUE, 15.Terry MCFLYNN (c), 19.Mark BRIDGE, 21.Scott JAMIESON (6.Hirofumi MORIYASU 57’), 22.Sung-Hwan BYUN,
Substitutes Not Used: 5.Hayden FOXE, 20.Ivan NECEVSKI (gk)
Yellow Cards: Alex Brosque 36’, Shannon Cole 45’
Red Cards: Nil

Gold Coast United Line-up: 1.Glen MOSS (gk), 3.Michael THWAITE, 5.ROBSON, 6.Dino DJULBIC, 7.Zenon CARAVELLA, 10.Jason CULINA (c), 11.Bruce DJITE, 16.Kristian REES, 19.Andrew BARISIC, 22.Adama TRAORE, 23.Steve FITZSIMMONS
Substitutes Not Used: 2.Steve PANTELIDIS, 20.Scott HIGGINS (gk),  
Yellow Cards: Kristian Rees 32’, Michael Thwaite 65’
Red Cards: John Curtis 68’

Man of the match - Gold Coast United's Michael Thwaite had another fantastic game in the centre of defence, continuing the great run of form he's been in. His ability to switch between defence and attack showed here tonight; as well as keeping his side in the game defensively, he set up a number of key attacks.

Weakest player - We don't usually rate players who've had less than 10 minutes on the pitch but it's difficult to ignore the ‘contribution' of Gold Coast United's John Curtis. His years of experience weren't on show; after just 52 seconds on the park, he was sent off for a silly foul on Sydney's Moriyasu. AV

Weekend Break: Central Coast Mariners 

Hyundai A-League 2010/11 League Table

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

4 - Mathew LECKIE, Sergio VAN DIJK,

3 - Chris GREENACRE, Paul IFILL, Mile STERJOVSKI

2 - Kosta BARBAROUSES, Leo BERTOS, Bruno CAZARINE, Jason CULINA, Marcos FLORES, Robbie FOWLER, Chris GROSSMAN, Branko JELIC, Nick KALMAR, Daniel MCBREEN, Kevin MUSCAT, Chris PAYNE, Shane SMELTZ, Iain RAMSAY, David WILLIAMS

1 - John ALOISI, Eli BABALJ, Grant BREBNER, Michael BRIDGES, Jeremy BROCKIE, Thomas BROICH, Alex BROSQUE, Tim BROWN, Leigh BROXHAM, Billy CELESKI, Isaka CERNAK, Shannon COLE, John CURTIS, Dyron DAAL, Bruce DJITE, Mate DUGANDZIC, Iain FYFE, Rhyan GRANT, Rostyn GRIFFITHS, Labinot HALITI, Jamie HARNWELL, Mark HUGHES, Scott JAMIESON, Stephan KELLER, Terry MCFLYNN, Matt MCKAY, Daniel MULLEN, Scott NEVILLE, Mitch NICHOLS, Erik PAARTALU, Tom PONDELJAK, Patricio PEREZ, Reinaldo, Ricardinho, Sean ROONEY, Gerald SIBON, Ben SIGMUND, Matt SIMON, Alex TERRA, Eugene SSEPPUYA, Alex WILKINSON, Nick WARD, Rutger WORM