Sweet ā16sā
Newcastle’s sacrificial approach to Melbourne City sent a serious message of intent to the rest of the competition on Friday night.
Fresh from a midweek preliminary Asian Champions League triumph over Persija Jakarta, coach Ernie Merrick made seven changes for his side’s home clash with City.
The experienced Scot effectively framed the fixture for “the Under-16s” in the lead-up, but nobody told Joe Champness.
With Jamie Maclaren cancelling out Jair’s opener, and City advancing in the latter stages of the second half, the Jets pounced through the returning Champness, before substitute Roy O’Donovan secured an unlikely 3-1 win.
“I’m pretty impressed,” Merrick said after the match.
“We managed to change our whole style of football. We didn’t have the legs to run… We had to play really compactly and catch them on the break and we did that really well.”
Despite turning their full attention towards Tuesday’s ACL playoff with Kashima Antlers, the Jets are now six points adrift of fifth-placed City with eight games remaining.
And with Warren Joyce’s side now winless in their last four matches, their once-unobtainable lead over the Jets could soon evaporate.
Kiwi record sets a reminder
As pressure surrounding the future of the Wellington Phoenix continues to mount, they continue to do everything right.
Mark Rudan’s revolution renovated Auckland’s Eden Park on Friday night, where 23,648 fans witnessed the Nix play out a 1-1 draw with Melbourne Victory.
The attendance figure set a new regular season record for the Phoenix, who now sit six points safe inside the top six and two adrift of Rudan’s top-four target.
With Football Federation Australia anticipating improved attendances, ratings and on-pitch performances for the Kiwi club to obtain a license extension, this season’s feats again serve as a reminder of their value beyond 2020.
As for the Victory, Ola Toivonen’s return to full fitness cannot come soon enough, with Kenny Athiu again unable to impress in the starting eleven.
Fans have become increasingly frustrated with Athiu’s production, or lack thereof, this season and they could soon suffer further setbacks should Toivonen struggle to recover from a knock.
The Swedish star has 10 goals in 13 appearances this season and, alongside Keisuke Honda, remains an integral piece of Kevin Muscat’s Championship puzzle.
Message received
Markus Babbel laid out a challenge to his players ahead of the regular season’s final nine fixtures and they held firm at the first hurdle on Saturday.
An impressive 3-1 victory over Adelaide United handed the Western Sydney Wanderers back-to-back wins for the first time this season and also signaled Oriol Riera’s return to form.
Riera, one of several Wanderers players off contract at season’s end, found the back of the net for the first time since December following a perfect free-kick from man of the match Roly Bonevacia.
The Dutchman added both a goal and an assist to round out the result; one Babbel could not have been more pleased with.
“If I play a game I want to win,” Babbel said.
“Now it’s two top results, Central Coast and Adelaide and (we) keep going now because there’s so many games to go and we want to improve.”
With finals football all but out of reach for the eighth-placed club, their pride-driven run to season’s end will next stop against league leaders Perth Glory on Sunday.
Roarful
If it wasn’t already a formality, the sale of Adam Taggart midweek made it crystal clear: Brisbane Roar’s season is over.
Roar fans will be eager to turn the page on what’s been a difficult 2018-19 campaign, heightened by Saturday night’s awful 4-0 punishment in Perth.
The Glory dominated the visitors at HBF Park, with Jason Davidson and Diego Castro finding the back of the net either side of an Andy Keogh brace in front of 10,831 supporters.
Taggart’s absence allowed Nicholas D’Agostino to take the pitch alongside Dylan Wenzel-Halls up front, but the 20-year-old did very little to trouble the home side’s league-best defence.
“I don’t want to make excuses but, as I say, let’s look at the positive,” Interim Roar coach Darren Davies said.
“It’s a big learning moment for them about where we’re at compared to the team at the top of the league.”
The three-time A-League champions will hope for a much-improved performance on Friday against the Central Coast Mariners, perhaps the only A-League club worse for wear.
Sydney blues
Sydney FC’s pursuit of Perth Glory hit a huge roadblock on Sunday as the Central Coast Mariners held on for a 1-1 draw at Leichardt Oval.
Over 12,000 fans filled the boutique stadium; where Adam Le Fondre’s 76th-minute penalty cancelled out Aiden O’Neill’s opener to set up a tense finish to the second half.
Profligacy failed Steve Corica’s men in the end and allowed the defending Premiers to fall 10 points behind runaway league leaders Glory.
With just one win in their past four fixtures, there appears to be a certain vulnerability surrounding the harbour city side as of late and coach Corica wasted little time making it known.
“The only thing I’m disappointed in was (that) we didn’t score more goals because, first half, they had one chance and they scored against the run of play,” he said after full-time.
“We had about 14 or 15 shots, some one-on-ones and hit the post… It was not for the lack of trying.”
Despite the Sky Blues’ dammed dominance, it’s safe to say Leichardt Oval’s A-League debut certainly exceeded expectations.
And if fans felt a sense of injustice at Sunday’s stalemate, they’ll have the perfect opportunity to witness otherwise on March 1.
