A League 2015/16 - Week 5 Review

Adelaide United 2 – 4 Melbourne City

We had an early start to the programme this week when Adelaide Utd played host to Melbourne City at Coopers Stadium in front eight and a half thousand spectators on Thursday evening, the visitors claimed a 4-2 win as Adelaides woes continue.

 

The rot set in early for the home team when in the eighth minute Aaron Mooy swung in corner from the left to the near post, Erik Paartalu nipped in ahead of John Hall and nodded home. City pressure was rewarded again in the thirty fifth minute when a ball from the left by Stefan Mauk was dummied by Bruno Fornaroli allowing Mooy to take control on the edge of the box and hammer home via the underside of the cross bar.

 

It went from bad to worse for the South Australians in the fifty sixth minute, Harry Novillo carried the ball forward down the left before feeding the ball in to the feet of Fornaroli just inside the box in a central position. The Uruguayan striker turned to create a yard then got lucky with an attempted clearance rebounded to him before dinking the ball with the outside of his right foot over the advancing Hall from around the penalty spot.

 

Adelaide at last started to show some attacking intent and got a goal back in the sixty sixth minute, a throw on the left was cleverly flicked by Marcello Carusca into the path of Mate Dugandzic, he pulled back to Sergio Cirio who curled expertly around Thomas Sorensen from the edge of the box.

 

Any chance of a Reds comeback was snuffed out in the seventy first minute, the combination of Novillo and Fornaroli again doing the trick. Novillo tore away down the left before slotting Fornaroli in behind the Reds rearguard, he rounded Hall on the keepers right and although he cut back on himself to finish right footed he still had time to slip the ball home.



 

The Reds almost pulled another back in the seventy fifth minute, Cirio threw a right sided corner in to the near post area where Osama Malik brushed aside the attentions of Paddy Kisnorbo to plant a firm header toward the top corner but Sorensen turned back the years to spring to his left and tip the effort over the bar. Ten minutes later Adelaide did get some reward when Bruce Kamau went down under the challenge of Novillo, Pablo Sanchez confidently stroked home the spot kick.

 

Adelaide face a potentially daunting trip to Wellington next up while City will be confident of disposing of Western Sydney Wanderers at home.

 

Sydney FC 0 – 0 Brisbane Roar



The top two clashed next when surprise package Brisbane Roar travelled to Allianz Stadium to take on Sydney FC in front of just shy of thirteen thousand fans.

 

Sydney were first to threaten in the sixth minute when Shane Smeltz collected the ball around twenty five yards out just right of centre. The kiwi striker hit a powerful effort but Jamie Young was equal to the task and tipped the ball away to safety.

 

Roar showed they had attacking designs of their own in the ninth minute when Shane Stefanutto played a lovely ball down the left sideline for Jamie Maclaren to run on to behind Seb Ryall, sadly the in form striker wasted the opportunity to apply pressure. He did far better in the thirty fourth minute when exquisite footwork took him past two Sydney opponents, his attempt to launch a chip over Vedran Janjetovic was blocked by the chest of Ryall.

 

The two sides appeared to be more intent on cancelling each other out than trying to take the game by the scruff of the neck with the resultant entertainment being poor fare.

Five minutes in to the second half Brandon O’Neill half volleyed a well aimed pass in the direction of Alex Brosque however Young came to the edge of the box to intercept before the Sydney skipper could get a touch.

 

In the sixty sixth minute Roar full back Jack Hingert slipped to allow Brosque to advance forward before shooting on goal, Young was well behind the effort to save competently.

 

Three minutes later Thomas Broich dinked a fine ball over the top to Maclaren twenty five yards out but Rhyan Grant smothered the shot at the cost of a corner. Sydney had their last chance to score in the eighty first minute when Andrew Hoole placed a left sided free kick across the face of the six yard box but found no takers.

 

The last chance of the game fell to the visitors in the ninety second minute, Corona played in a free kick from the right of centre around thirty five yards out, Danny Bowles had got ahead of Jacques Faty at the near post but got too much contact on his header to plant it well wide of target.

 

Sydney will now have to steel themselves to take on Melbourne Victory in the big blue, while Brisbane will be pleased to take a point and prepare with expectant optimism for the visit of Perth Glory.

 

Newcastle Jets 1 – 2 Western Sydney Wanderers

High flying Newcastle Jets were next on the menu as they played host to Western Sydney Wanderers at Hunter Stadium in front of a decent crowd of fourteen and a half thousand fans.

 

The home team were first to express an interest in the fourth minute, Dave Carney hit a cross field ball from the left to find Enver Alivodic beyond the far post he volleyed a ball back toward goal where Nikolai Topor Stanley got a vital touch to deny Nigel Boogaard a tap in at the near post. On the eighteen minute mark Mitch Nichols tried his luck with a half volley from 20 yards but the newly re-dentured Mark Birighitti turned the shot away for a corner.

 

Alivodic cut in from the left in the forty third minute to curl a lovely effort just wide of the post from twenty five yards. There was still time before the half time break for Birighitti to save with his feet from Mario Vidosic from practically point blank range and for Milos Trifunovic to call Andrew Redmayne in to action at his near post after being played in by Leonardo.

 

The Jets started brightly in the second period and should have taken the lead through Boogaard and Ben Kantarovski who respectively blasted wide and in to the side net from identical positions twelve yards out and right of centre. Jets went ahead in the seventy third minute with a controversial goal.

 

Lee Ki Je addressed a free kick twenty five yards out just right of centre, his effort came back off the bar, with Redmayne well beaten, to the waiting Alivodic to tap home. Replays showed that Trifunovic and possibly Alivodic were off side when the ball was delivered from the free kick, the assistant ref flagged but the ref over ruled him and awarded the goal. Wanderers equalised in the seventy ninth minute with the ref potentially levelling matters from his earlier kindness to Jets.

 

As a hanging ball dropped in the Jets box Trifunovic and Brendon Santalab brushed against each other with Santalab going to ground fairly easily, Andreu Mayoral slotted home the penalty with no fuss. Wanderers claimed the points in the eighty sixth minute, Nichols fired in an effort from twenty five yards, the ball skipped just before Birighitti and managed to bounce under his hands as he dived.

 

So it’s back to back wins for the Wanderers and they will be hopeful of stealing a point from their upcoming visit to City, while Jets will have plenty of confidence of claiming all three points from their local derby against the Mariners next week.

 

Central Coast Mariners 1 – 1 Wellington Phoenix

Central Coast Mariners and Wellington Phoenix brought down the curtain at Central Coast Stadium in front of just six and a half thousand supporters. The visitors took the lead in just the eighth minute, Manny Muscat played a ball down the right sideline for Roy Krishna, he crossed to the far post where Scotsman Michael McGlinchey took the ball out of the air with the outside of his right foot cut back from left to right to lose Jake McGing and curl home from eight yards out.

 

Mariners tried to get level after twenty five minutes, Storm Roux took possession from a short corner to cross to Jacob Poscoliero who headed wide from twelve yards. Roy O’Donovan had a “goal” chalked off correctly for offside after half an hour and nine minutes later Liam Rose tested Glen Moss from thirty yards with the keeper punching to safety.

 

After sixty minutes Roly Bonevacia drove a fine thirty yard effort against the outside of the right hand post as the Nix tried to extend their lead. The home team got back to parity in the seventy sixth minute, Anthony Caceres swung over a near post corner from the right where O’Donovan climbed highest to head home from the corner of the six yard box for his third goal of the season.

 

Mariners went looking for a winner and Josh Bingham nearly obliged in the eighty first minute when he headed a far post cross down but Moss was correctly position to make the save.

 

Honours even so Phoenix will look to get back to winning ways next week against basement club Adelaide while Mariners will have their work cut out to get anything from the derby game against Jets.

 

To round matter up I should mention that Melbourne Victory did a real number on Perth Glory to win 2-0 with goals from Oliver Bozanic and Besart Berisha to claim the FFA Cup.

 

This weekend’s coming fixtures:

Wellington Phoenix v Adelaide United

Melbourne City v Western Sydney Wanderers

Newcastle Jets v Central Coast Mariners

Sydney FC v Melbourne Victory

Brisbane Roar v Perth Glory