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| A-LEAGUE |
| Driving rain in Wellington made conditions difficult and reduced the crowd for the Phoenix' match against Melbourne Victory. In a high-scoring contest, the Victory got out to a 3-1 lead shortly after half-time and looked to be cruising to an easy win, but that was turned on its head after Shane Smeltz was awarded a penalty on 65 minutes. The penalty was converted and suddenly there was life back in the contest. But hopes of a comeback were to be short-lived, as just 3 minutes later the referee again pointed to the penalty spot but this time at the other end of the ground. Kevin Muscat made no mistake, and the match finished 4-2 to the Victory. Wellington Phoenix 2 (S Smeltz 29,65pen) Melbourne Victory 4 (D Allsopp 16,35, N Fabiano 47, K Muscat 68pen). Yellow Cards : Phoenix - A Durante 73, M Ferrante 81. Victory - N Fabiano 20, E Berger 56. Referee - S Delovski. Crowd - 6,110 at Westpac Stadium. Adelaide got off to a flying start against Queensland Roar when Travis Dodd was awarded a penalty after just 8 minutes. The Reds had the better of the first half, creating chance after chance but were unable to increase the 1-0 advantage. But the game was to undergo a major twist in the tale immediately after the break, when Charlie Miller found the Adelaide net to tie up the scores. Now it was the Roar with the momentum, and with the crowd behind them looked for the winner. But it was not to come, and 1-1 would be how the match finished. Queensland Roar 1 (C Miller 47) Adelaide United 1 (T Dodd 8pen) Yellow Cards : Roar - J McCloughan 7, C Moore 75). Adelaide - L Pantelis 17. Referee - M Shield. Crowd - 12,761 at Suncorp Stadium. |
| Another season, but the same old heartbreak for Perth Glory as an equaliser by Jade North in the 5th minute of injury time robbed the WA team of 3 points in their clash against defending champions Newcastle Jets at Members Equity Stadium. In a high-scoring and entertaining clash, the Glory twice came from behind to equalise; and when Nikita Rukavytsya on the run smashed the ball into the Newcastle net in the 81st minute, the long-suffering Glory faithful hoped to dream of an upset. Earlier, Joel Griffiths and Adrian Trinidad exchanged first-half penalties; and an own-goal by Jamie Coyne was cancelled out by a cross from Ameral that found Eugene Dadi for a spectacular effort just before the hour. The Glory were on song, and Rukavytsya's 40 metre run before beating the outstretched arms of Covic looked set for the first shock of the season before North's last-second intervention. Perth Glory 3 (A Trinidad 35pen, E Dadi 58, N Rukavytsya 81) Newcastle Jets 3 (J Griffiths 20pen, J Coyne 48og, J North 90) Yellow Cards : Glory - D Djulbic 19. Jets - A Griffiths 64, J North 66, E Zura 69 Referee - C Zetter. Crowd - 8,876 at Members Equity Stadium. It didn't quite have the tension and drama of the classic 5-4 encounter last season, but the Central Coast v Sydney FC match started at breakneck speed, with Steve Corica having scored twice for the visitors and Sasho Petrovski's penalty getting the Mariners on the board before the match was even 15 minutes old. The action continued into the second half, as the yellow cards continued to accumulate. On 66 minutes, Petrovski headed home an equaliser to level the scores at 2-2; and 3 minutes later Stuart Musialik's second yellow card saw him being banished from the field and condemning Sydney to playing out the end of the match with 10 men. The Mariners pressed, but could find no winner. And on 81 minutes, against the run of play, second-gamer Shannon Cole took a free from just outside the box. His shot sailed over the wall into the corner of the net, giving Sydney FC a 3-2 lead. And although the Mariners looked again for an equaliser, it was not to come. Central Coast Mariners 2 (S Petrovski 13pen, 66) Sydney FC 3 (S Corica 6,14, S Cole 81) Yellow Cards : Mariners - A Clark 48, S Petrovski 55, P Bojic 56, N Boogaard 80. Sydney - R Middleby 34, S Colosimo 45, S Musialik 68,69, S Cole 90, I Fyfe 90. Red Cards : Sydney - S Musialik 69. Referee - B Williams. Crowd - 10,932 at Bluetongue Stadium. |