Round 3 Review: Demolition!

By: Daniel | September 1st, 2008

Round 3 was one of the most goalishious rounds of the A-League… Ever with 13 goals from the 4 games.

But these wernt tight games, like a 4-3 or a 3-2, these were absolute annihilation’s due mainly to defensive displays that make ever lover of the game shudder. But what was good was that there was goals and not fluffed chances, this will only get more and more fringe supporters interested in our great league.

Melbourne Victory 5 v 0 Newcastle Jets
I was at this game and what a game to see. Melbourne were fantastic to watch, The interplay between Hernandez, Lopez, Fabiano, Allsopp and Thompson was something to behold and will scare the living shit out of defenders all season! The Jets were just simply outclassed from start to finish as they were left one too many times in no mans land. Archie Thompson was man of the match here as (first game coming back from injury) he showed that his Olympic woes were behind him by setting up 3 goals and scoring one himself. The Victory Marquee was unselfish first the first time in a long time.

On the other hand the Jets were absolutely woeful. Jade North needs to forget about going overseas once-and-for-all because he got ripped to pieces by the Victory strikers! Zura was nowhere and Covic looked very very unsettled. Song was impressive but besides him they were just pathetic and showed that they are not the same team that one the toilet bowl last season.

Match report
MELBOURNE VICTORY 5 (Carlos Hernandez 40m, Archie Thompson 45+2m, Danny Allsopp 61m, 64m, Grant Brebner 90+2m) NEWCASTLE JETS 0. Crowd: 22,589

Adelaide United 3 v 0 Wellington Phoenix
Adelaide were able to keep up with Melbourne by seeing off Wellington at Hindmarsh Stadium. Brazilian striker Cristiano was the star of the show here as he put away two shots from inside the box. The former Dutch first division player showed class pouncing on ever ball that came his way. United played fantastic overall with Salley improving with every match, Pantelis slotting calmly from the edge of the 16 yard box and Trav Dodd at his usual best. Makes for a fantastic game v Melbourne in 2 weeks.

Wellington on the other hand were poor to say the very least. They seemed to really struggle without the presence of Shane Smeltz and find themselves bottom of the ladder. This team has problems all over the park with their defense conceding eight goals in their first three matches. Ricki Herbet will need to make some drastic changes to get anywhere close to the top 4 this season.

Match Report
ADELAIDE UNITED 3 (Lucas Pantelis 15m, Cristiano 48m, 60m) WELLINGTON PHOENIX 0. Crowd: 7,832.

Sydney FC 5 v 2 Perth Glory
Glory received a nice belting here copping 5 goals. Alex Brosque, Cole and Steve Corica were the performers for Syd. They were a constant threat for the Glory defense all game. Brosque seems like he’s a bit more settled now with Kosmina as coach and the Sydney style of play.Both teams got deserved penalties against them and were fairly even through the first with Amaral and Eugene Dadi the threats coming from Perth. Dadi once again showed his class from headers and looks to be a major coup for the A-League.

So it was all heading towards being a fantastic match… then the controversy happened. Dino Djulbic had a bit of a mind burst and not only caused a penalty but SPAT IN THE DIRECTION OF THE REF! I dont know if he did it on purpose or not but if he did, he should be delt with! HARD! we dont need that crap in the A-League.

And it was downhill for the Glory from there. Defense allowed the Sydney strikers too much space and they were ripped apart accordingly.

Match Report
SYDNEY FC 5 (Alex Brosque 3m, Steve Corica 22m pen, Mark Bridge 39m, Shannon Cole 43m, Nikolai Topor-Stanley 89m og) PERTH GLORY 2 (Eugene Dadi 12m, 67m pen). Crowd: 11,734.

Central Coast Mariners v Queensland Roar 4-2
Another goal feast was found in the last game of the round. that rhymes wtf! anyway, didn’t get a chance to see too much of this game so ill leave it up to the match report to give you guys a bit of an idea about what hapened in this match. But what id like to point out are 4 things.

1. Mile Jedinak’s firebolt of a goal! pwoaahhhhh we need a bit more of that in the A-League.
2. Mark Bosnich made his first official return to football in this clash (a little beefy it must be said) but his passion he has for the game is out there for the world to see. He truely wears his heart to see and its a breath of fresh air in this league. He will hopefully be a great success.
3. Mark should’ve been sent off for taking a players legs out like that… you just dont do it! grr
4. WTF was with Liam Reddy!, hes a fantastic goalkeeper but got it all wrong in that game.

Match Report
CENTRAL COAST MARINERS 4 (Matt Simon 31m, Mile Jedinak 48m, Dylan Macallister 64m, 71m) QUEENSLAND ROAR 2 (Charlie Miller 69m, Serginho van Dijk 73m pen). Crowd: 12,185.