Round 3 Review

By: Kieran | August 26th, 2009

Hey everyone,
So an entertaining weekend, with some unexpected draws, expect wins, and big Frank being sent to the stands.

Gold Coast United 2 beat Adelaide United 0

Gold Coast maintained their rather promising start to life as an A-League club, by beating Adelaide 2 nil. Gold Coast started well with a 12th minute Shane Smeltz strike, and looked promising until the break. Smeltz’ 12th minute striker completely turned the run of play, after Adelaide had controlled the game for the first ten minutes. The second half didn’t start too brightly for Adelaide, as Steven Fitzsimmons put one in the back of the net, all but sealing the result. Unfortunately for Adelaide, this second goal revitalised them, and they started attacking and created multiple chances, but unfortunately it was too late for them. While the rejuvenated final 40 minutes will please Vidmar, Adelaide, they will still have their work cut out for them against a North Queensland Fury team looking for their first win of the season.

Central Coast Mariners 0 drew with Sydney FC 0
Injury time heroics from Clint Bolton saved Sydney from losing an otherwise dour game. Bolton dived to his right to save a poor penalty from Adam Kwasnik, after John Hutchinson was brought down by Simon Colosimo. Apart from the last minute excitement, it was a pretty boring game, with everybody’s favourite player Kofi Danning closed down well by Mariner’s defender Dean Heffernan. So yer…pretty boring game then…

Melbourne Victory 1 defeated North Queensland Fury 0
Archie Thompson’s first goal of the season was enough for the Victory to get past new boys NQ Fury. The Australian striker scored shortly before half time for Ernie Merrick’s team, a team featuring Adrian Leijer, straight off the plane. Unfortunately for the Fury, Dyron Daal had a chance to equalise in the 89th minute, when he was through on the keeper, but was denied, leaving Ferguson’s team to go through another demoralising loss, the third of the season. However the win will please Ernie, as Melbourne picked up their first win of the seasons, as he looks to take the defending champions back to the top of the table.

Brisbane Roar 1 drew with Wellington Phoenix 1
A late Chris Greenacre equaliser has left the Brisbane Roar still searching for a win, after failing to capitalise on Sergio Van Dijk third of the season. New Phoenix signing Greenacre headed one home with five minutes to go, putting Wellington at a better then expected position on the ladder three games in. Lady luck clearly wasn’t shiny for Brisbane, as they also had Tommy Oar sent off for two yellows, and Big Frankie (Frank Farina, like the new nickname?) was sent to the stands, and will be confined to them for the next game. After a good first half for the Roar, a much stronger second half from Wellington gave them many chances, before Greenacre finally headed one home. While it’s no need to panic yet, no wins so far for the Roar means they will have to lift their game if they are to make it into the top 2 or 3.

Perth Glory 2 beat Newcastle United 0
And finally, my pick for the title this year finally got some points on the board, picking up a reasonably convincing win over Newcastle. Goals from Wayne Srhoj and Adriano Pellegrino, ended Glory’s two game winless streak, and puts them back in position to march up the ladder. A promising crowd of nearly 10,000 will also add to Dave Mitchell’s smile. Glory goalkeeper Tando Velaphi also secured only his second clean sheet of his Glory career (thanks 442 for that stat), which will please the Glory fans (Ben?).

Standing P W D L Pts
1 Gold Coast 3 3 0 0 9
2 Sydney 3 2 1 0 7
3 CCM 3 1 2 0 5
4 Wellington 3 1 1 1 4
5 Melbourne 3 1 1 1 4
6 Newcastle 3 1 1 1 4
7 Perth 3 1 0 2 3
8 Adelaide 3 1 0 2 3
9 Brisbane 3 0 2 1 2
10 North Qld 3 0 0 3 0

Apologies for the dodgy table, cant find anything better, if anyone know where I can find a proper HTML A League table please let me know.

Well thats it for now, look out for a Round 4 preview soonish.