Central Coast Mariners take the lead in Australia’s A-League. Image credit: AdobeStock
Until Saturday Melbourne City FC has won six games in a row. Moreover, coach Patrick Kisnorbo’s team always won the last five games by at least two goals. Away at Western United the next win was planned, but the Green and Blacks proved why they are especially feared in their home games. At first everything went according to plan for Melbourne and Craig Noone made it 1-0 for the guests after just 12 minutes. As the Live Soccer Statistics from Overlyzer.com show, Melbourne had several periods of extreme pressure in the game in which the opponent was dominated. In total, after 90 minutes, the team had seven shots on goal and an unbelievable 22 (!) shots off target. Melbourne also collected 59% possession and 12 corner kicks. But in just six minutes, Western United turned the game upside down: Lachlan Wales equalized and experienced striker Besart Berisha made it 2-1 just six minutes later. Although from this point onwards only Melbourne played and the hosts practically only concentrated on defensive work, no more goals were scored. Western United moved up to seventh place in the table with this unexpected win.
Two goals in five minutes were the key to the Central Coast Mariners’ success against Adelaide United. Before that, the game was more than turbulent, as the home team missed two penalties. The first was missed by Matt Simon after 17 minutes, the second by Oliver Bozanic, shortly after Kusini Yengi made it 1-0 for Adelaide. As you can see in the graph, it took Central Coast a few minutes to recover from this shock, but then they struck twice. Oliver Bozanic was more lucky after 72 minutes than from the penalty spot and equalized. Only five minutes later, the young Sudanese Alou Kuol made it 2-1. After that, the Mariners had the game under control and there were no more dangerous attacks from Adelaide. In the end, the win was deserved because of the multitude of chances. Central Coast is now the new leader of the A-League.
Macarthur FC confirmed their good form with a 2-0 win over Perth Glory, which is still only tenth in the A-League. English striker Matt Derbyshire made things clear in the first half. After only ten minutes he scored the 1-0 at the start of a pressure phase for the hosts and a few seconds before the half-time whistle he scored the 2-0 from a penalty. In the second half, Macarthur had the game largely under control and was able to build up a lot of pressure towards the end of the game. However, coach Ante Milicic’s team did not make it 3-0. Perth Glory is still struggling and especially in away games, the violets are currently having major problems asserting themselves.
The clash between Brisbane Roar and the Western Sydney Wanderers turned out to be a very open game. It went back and forth here, both teams had great chances of winning the game. The Western Sydney Wanderers got off to a better start, taking the lead after just 12 minutes thanks to Kwame Yeboah. This goal came in the first major pressure phase of the guests, which was immediately replaced by a massive pressure phase from Brisbane Roar. The equalizer that was ultimately deserved fell after 49 minutes: The 20-year-old Japanese Riku Danzaki made it 1-1 after The Roar came out of the dressing room very aggressively. In the course of the second half an open exchange of blows developed in which both teams found great chances. It was a very offensive game with a lot of scoring opportunities and attacks on both sides. In the end, Brisbane Roar collected 16 chances, WSW had nine – but there was no winner.