Possession and "balls in the penalty area" statistics are all very well but, regardless of what many pundits may suggest, you're not going to win games unless you score goals.

For some teams, it was a case of dominating one half and letting it get away from them in the other. For others, one half was exciting and action-packed and the other was dull and dreary.

An extended period of dominance is no compensation for dropped points and over the weekend's matches, several teams discovered just that.

This could be proven to be true no more than it was in Adelaide United's 1-1 draw with Perth Glory at ME Bank Stadium on Friday night.

A dominant first half from the Reds saw them enter the changing rooms leading 1-0 at half time and they were perhaps unlucky not to be up by more.

But it was last season's NYL top scorer, Francesco Monterosso, who gave the visitors the advantage off a weak header from a corner in the 37^th minute.

However, a reinvigorated Perth side came out firing in the second half and terrorised Adelaide custodian Mark Birighitti.

After a close shot from Monterosso, Glory hit the Reds quickly after Ludovic Boi dribbled down the left and crossed in for Howard Fondyke to equalise.

Perth continued to press for a winner until the final whistle but it was not to be. The final score of 1-1 was a fair result that reflected each side's periodical dominance.

Perth Glory 1 (Fondyke 57)
Adelaide United 1 (Monterosso 37)

An early double to Andrew Barisic was not enough to earn Gold Coast United the three points in the first Brisbane-Gold Coast youth derby.

Barisic, one of two overage players on the field for the new Gold Coast side, was unstoppable - putting his first goal away in just the fifth minute after a goalkeeping error from Roar's Luke Muir.

The visitors' lead was doubled only three minutes later after Barisic, again, took the ball from Roar captain Daniel Bowles and smacked it into the back of the net to make it 2-0 after eight minutes of play.

Gold Coast continued to dominate the first half, but it was Roar who dominated the second half.

Joshua McVey was a force to be reckoned with in the second half. In the 53^rd minute he opened the scoring for Roar after it was ruled that an attempted clearance from Gold Coast's Ben Wearing had not stopped his shot from crossing the line.

McVey pressed on and in the 77^th minute, a cross from outside the area found Jordan Farina who scored to level the scores at 2-2.

Despite both teams further efforts, neither of the teams could be separated and the whistle signalled the end to an exciting and entertaining game between the young rivals.

Brisbane Roar 2 (McVey 53, Farina 77)
Gold Coast United 2 (Barisic 5, 8)

Sunday's double-header saw the AIS pick up their first point of the campaign as they held on for a 2-2 draw with Central Coast Mariners in Sydney.

All the serious goalmouth action was in the first half with both sides launching early assaults on each other's goals.

Overage players, Nik Mrdja and Shane Huke, combined to give the Mariners an early period of dominance and Mrdja came close to opening the scoring on several occasions.

The AIS continued to threaten with Eli Babalj and Kamal Ibrahim playing integral parts in the Canberra outfit's excellent first half performance.

However, it was the Mariners who scored the first of the four goals with Nik Mrdja scoring off a great header to make it 1-0.

This did not deter the visitors - a double from Babalj in the space of two minutes gave them the lead.

Two minutes later, Mariners captain Panny Nikas scored to level the scores going into half time and conclude what was a goal-filled 10 minutes.

The game could've gone either way as both teams pressured each other's defence in the second half; however, they had to settle for a draw.

Central Coast Mariners 2 (Mrdja 35', Nikas 44')
AIS 2 (Babalj 40', 42')

In Melbourne, Sydney FC earned a lucky 1-0 victory against a strong Melbourne Victory side.

The score line did not reflect the dominance that the Victory had enjoyed for most of the match. Evan Berger and Nathan Elasi gave the home side some much needed spark and Mate Dugandzic also threatened to score on a few occasions.

Sydney had few real chances in the first half and this trend continued throughout the second 45 minutes. Victory's Matthew Demo had several chances, however, he failed to bury the shots.

However, three minutes before full time Hussein Akil set up the NYL's top scorer, Kerem Bulut, who took advantage of the opportunity and hit the ball into the back of the net.

The game finished 1-0 to Sydney, who could count themselves somewhat lucky to come away with the result. Melbourne, on the other hand, were left to wonder what could've been.

Melbourne Victory 0
Sydney FC 1 (Kerem Bulut 87')

National Youth League 2009/10 - Leading Goal-Scorers

5 - Kerem BULUT

4 - Eli BABALJ

3 - Andrew BARISIC, Chris HAROLD, Josh MCVEY, Panny NIKAS

2 - Aziz BEHICH, Million BUTSHIIRE, Ludovic BOI, Francesco MONTEROSSO,, Jason NAIDOVSKI

1 - Joel ALLWRIGHT, Terry ANTONIS, Scott BALDERSON, Fabian BARBIERO, Luke BRATTAN, Lachlan CAHILL, Joel CHIANESE, Eugene DADI, David D'APUZZO, Matthew DEMO, Mate DUGANDZIC, Ryan EDWARDS, Jordan FARINA, Kingsley FRANCIS, Howard FONDYKE, Evan KOSTOPOULOS, Adam KWASNIK, Mitchell MALLIA, Dane MILOVANOVIC, Nik MRDJA, Matthew Mullen, Steven PACE, Chris PAYNE, Inseob SHIN, Tim SMITS, Stefan VRBESIC, Ben WEARING, Reuben WAY, Liam WOODING