It was the opening round of the new A-League season... and got predictably sidetracked by a Video Assistant Referee controversy, despite some quality football and an upset or two.
Experienced heads lead the way for Rudan’s Phoenix
Mark Rudan got off to a perfect start on his managerial debut in the A-League in Sunday’s early kick-off, as the Nix stunned last season’s runners-up Newcastle Jets 2-1.
It was just the second time Phoenix have won an opening week fixture, but it was the leadership from their more experienced figures which stood out. Andrew Durante, Steven Taylor and Roy Krishna all put in excellent displays, as well as inspiring youngsters such as Liberato Cacace and Sarpreet Singh to put in their own impressive performances.
Durante and Taylor partnered up like two peas in a pod, with Taylor sharing the leadership in defence and Durante proving to be a real threat from set pieces. Meanwhile down the other end Krishna was immense, leading Wellington’s press by constantly chasing down lost causes.
The Fijian’s unselfish running off the ball creates space for others, with Singh in particular being a beneficiary. The pacey 31-year-old was rewarded with a deserved goal late on to seal the points, equalling Paul Ifill’s all-time goal scoring record for Wellington with his 33rd strike for the club.
Taggart finds the net...eventually
In what was a heated off-season transfer saga, Adam Taggart moved on from Perth Glory to pursue a new opportunity under John Aloisi at Brisbane Roar, infuriating Glory owner Tony Sage who labelled the fringe Socceroo a ‘liar’ over the move.
Despite the backlash, the 25-year-old has knuckled down in the off-season under Aloisi but experienced one of his stranger performances against the Mariners.
The former Newcastle striker showcased how he can be so inconsistent on Sunday, showing fantastic movement but constantly lacking the finishing touch in a frustrating first half which saw repeated shots cannon past the woodwork.
But after the break, Taggart was much more clinical and found the back of the net not once, but twice.
Hs first strike in the 63rd minute was controversially ruled out for offside, but two minutes later, the new recruit reacted to Stefan Mauk’s mishit effort to smash Brisbane’s equaliser into the top right corner.
In the end, it was a positive start for Taggart and Aloisi will hope it is the start of Taggart becoming Roar’s main man this season.
Glory and Wanderers need time
It was built up as one of the round’s more intriguing clashes as new Perth Glory coach Tony Popovic faced down his old club, Western Sydney Wanderers.
By the time the final whistle went though, it was clear how far these two are from being the finished article under their respective new managers.
Glory were the better side in the first half and deserved their halftime lead, with Popovic’s new players buying into his insistence to always play out from the back.
This worked in the first half as the Wanderers were happy to sit back and absorb pressure, but a pep talk from WSW's new coach Markus Babbel at halftime clearly worked.
Wnderers showed much more endeavour to press high in the second half, grab an equaliser and prevent Perth from playing through them with the same ease shown in the first half. But for all that, it appeared the German was happy to settle for a point.
Popovic’s seems to have his side playing his way, but they don’t seem capable of doing it for 90 minutes at the moment and Babbel still looks unsure about what the best system is for his team...and a side which ran out of steam short of 90 minutes.
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