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| ROUND 18: Friday 28th December Adelaide United 1 Sydney FC 3 Sunday 30th December Newcastle Jets 2 Wellington Phoenix 3 Perth Glory 1 Queensland Roar 4 Sunday 31st December Central Coast Mariners 2 Melb'ne Victory 5 |
| The A-League came to the Adelaide Oval for the first time, and the move was an outstanding success with over 25,000 people attending the picturesque stadium; but on a warm night it was Sydney FC that spoiled the party with a 3-1 victory. Kristian Sarkies scored first for Adelaide, slotting a free kick over the wall and into the corner of the net. But the game was to be turned on its head on the half hour when a brain explosion from Robert Cornthwaite earned him a red card; forcing the Reds to play the last hour of a hot night a man short. A sublime strike from Brendon Santalab levelled the scores shortly before half-time, and second-half goals to Corica and Middleby gave Sydney FC the three points to propel them into the top 4. Click here to see Harboursport's photo gallery from this match. Adelaide United 1 (K Sarkies 19) Sydney FC 3 (B Santalab 44, S Corica 54, R Middleby 66) Yellow Cards : Adelaide - T Dodd 28, E Galekovic 66. Sydney - I Fyfe 30, M Milligan 40, R Middleby 65, B Renaud 83. Red Cards : Adelaide - R Cornthwaite 33. Referee - M Breeze. Crowd - 25,039 at Adelaide Oval. Newcastle's hopes of a top-2 finish came across a stumbling block when the Jets suffered an upset 3-2 loss at home to Wellington Phoenix. The Phoenix went ahead after 16 minutes, when Vaughan Coveny, playing against his old club, cannoned a shot into the crossbar but Shane Smeltz was there to gather the rebound and fire it into the Newcastle net. But Newcastle equalised when Mark Bridge was brought down inside the box and slotted home the penalty. 1-1 at the break, but just 5 minutes later the locals were looking down the barrel of a 2-goal deficit. Ferrante scored from a corner, and moments later a leaping Kristian Rees got a high header to land it into the Jets net. Tunbridge got a late goal back for the Jets to set up a grandstand finish, but the Phoenix held on for a memorable win. Newcastle Jets 2 (M Bridge 29pen, S Tunbridge 81) Wellington Phoenix 3 (S Smeltz 16, M Ferrante 49, K Rees 51). Yellow Cards : Jets - S Musialik 55. Phoenix - G Moss 28, V Lia 59, T Brown 84, A Elrich 90. Referee - S Delovski. Crowd - 15,107 at Energy Australia Stadium. Queensland Roar strengthened their hold on a top-2 position with a comfortable 4-1 away win over the struggling Perth Glory. Perth did most of the attacking in the first half hour, but were unable to get any scores to show for it. Instead, it was Robbie Kruse after 34 minutes who opened the scoring for the Roar against the run of play; and another score to Reinaldo put the Queenslanders 2-0 ahead at the break. |
The Glory tried hard against the odds in the second half, and were rewarded on 57 minutes when
Nick Rizzo pounced on a well-placed cross. But all their hard work was undone just a minute later
when some sloppy defending left Tahj Minniecon unmarked to restore the 2-goal lead for the Roar;
with McCloughan putting the icing on the cake 15 minutes from time.
Perth Glory 1 (N Rizzo 57) Queensland Roar 4 (R Kruse 34, Reinaldo 43, T Minniecon 59, J
McCloughan 74).
Yellow Cards : Glory - B Celeski 25, J Coyne 76. Roar - C Moore 17, S Ognenovski 27, A Packer 50.
Referee - P Green. Crowd - 9,614 at Members Equity Stadium.
A huge crowd was on hand for what has become an annual blockbuster on New Year's Eve at
Central Coast Stadium; and they were to witness defending champions Melbourne Victory recording
a 5-2 victory to keep their slim finals hopes alive.
It didn't take long for Adrian Caceres to put the Victory on the board, and an opportunist goal from
Danny Allsopp doubled the lead. Jedinak got one back for the Mariners, but when Kevin Muscat was
awarded a penalty it was looking a night to savour for the Victory.
And so it would prove. Victory led 4-1 at half-time, and even a piece of individual brilliance by John
Aloisi on the hour was not enough to put the Mariners back in the contest.
Central Coast Mariners 2 (M Jedinak 32, J Aloisi 63). Melbourne Victory 5 (A Caceres 4, D
Allsopp 23,61, A Thompson 36, K Muscat 43pen).
Yellow Cards : Mariners - A Clark 10, T Vidmar 42, P O'Grady 64, S Petrovski 88. Victory - R
Vargas 45, N Ward 59, A Thompson 73, M Theoklitos 74.
Referee - M Shield. Crowd - 18,686 at Central Coast Stadium.
Nick Rizzo pounced on a well-placed cross. But all their hard work was undone just a minute later
when some sloppy defending left Tahj Minniecon unmarked to restore the 2-goal lead for the Roar;
with McCloughan putting the icing on the cake 15 minutes from time.
Perth Glory 1 (N Rizzo 57) Queensland Roar 4 (R Kruse 34, Reinaldo 43, T Minniecon 59, J
McCloughan 74).
Yellow Cards : Glory - B Celeski 25, J Coyne 76. Roar - C Moore 17, S Ognenovski 27, A Packer 50.
Referee - P Green. Crowd - 9,614 at Members Equity Stadium.
A huge crowd was on hand for what has become an annual blockbuster on New Year's Eve at
Central Coast Stadium; and they were to witness defending champions Melbourne Victory recording
a 5-2 victory to keep their slim finals hopes alive.
It didn't take long for Adrian Caceres to put the Victory on the board, and an opportunist goal from
Danny Allsopp doubled the lead. Jedinak got one back for the Mariners, but when Kevin Muscat was
awarded a penalty it was looking a night to savour for the Victory.
And so it would prove. Victory led 4-1 at half-time, and even a piece of individual brilliance by John
Aloisi on the hour was not enough to put the Mariners back in the contest.
Central Coast Mariners 2 (M Jedinak 32, J Aloisi 63). Melbourne Victory 5 (A Caceres 4, D
Allsopp 23,61, A Thompson 36, K Muscat 43pen).
Yellow Cards : Mariners - A Clark 10, T Vidmar 42, P O'Grady 64, S Petrovski 88. Victory - R
Vargas 45, N Ward 59, A Thompson 73, M Theoklitos 74.
Referee - M Shield. Crowd - 18,686 at Central Coast Stadium.
| ROUND 19: Friday 4th January Wellington Phoenix v Sydney FC (5.30) Newcastle Jets v Adelaide United (8.00) Saturday 5th January Queensland Roar v Melb'ne Victory (8.00) Sunday 6th January Perth Glory v Central Coast Mariners (9.00) |