Weekly Wrap – Week One

Record breaking crowds, Del Piero goals, card happy referees; Yes the A-League is finally back.  After what seemed like an eternity we finally welcomed the back the return of an old friend.

Sydney bling outshine Jets

Sydney opened their account with a comfortable win over a disappointing Newcastle.  Injuries hit Sydney FC hard during the week and late replacements were needed to be called upon.  It was a case of the usual suspects when Italian superstar Alessandro Del Piero opened his goal tally in the first half.  Joel Chianese doubled their advantage on the hour mark as Sydney cruised passed a lacklustre Jets.  Injury replacement Matt Thompson rewarded Frank Farina for signing him during the week with a solid performance.

Sydney 2 (Del Piero 36, Chianese 60) defeated Newcastle 0

Crowd: 20,103

Juric Wanders in late

A dramatic Tommy Juric equaliser made sure Western Sydney grabbed a deserved point in the grand final replay at Gosford.  The match failed to live up to pregame hype but did produce a great crowd atmosphere.  Mitchell Duke broke the deadlock early in the second half after scoreless first half.  Marco Flores had a great debut for the Mariners and showed the A-League just what he is capable of.  In a surprising move Shinj Ono started on the bench but managed to have a profound impact on the match when he appeared for the last 30 minutes.

Central Coast 1 (Duke 55) drew with Western Sydney 1 (Juric 87)

Crowd 17,134 (sell out)

Derby Draw

A record crowd of 45,202 saw Harry Kewell lead out the Melbourne Heart against cross town rivals Melbourne Victory.  In a match that promised so much but sadly failed to deliver to the expectant crowd.  Victory started off brightly but succumbed to the defensive pressure of John Aloisi’s men.  Central defenders Patrick Kisnorbo and Pablo Contreras both impressed on debut for their respective clubs.  Let’s just hope the next Melbourne derby delivers a bit more for fans in December.

Melbourne Victory 0 drew with Melbourne Heart 0

Crowd: 45,202

Roar Nix points

After starting the game overwhelming favourites Brisbane managed to return home with the three points, but it wasn’t without a struggle.  Wellington were without several of their starting XI due to international duties but took the game right up to the Roar.  Stein Huysegems opened the scoring for the Nix.  From then Brisbane upped the tempo and scoring machine Besart Berisha equalised just after half time.  A 90th minute winner from Franjic could be considered cruel to the home team, but on the balance of play Brisbane probably deserved the 3 points.

Wellington 1 (Huysegems 22) lost to Brisbane 2 (Berisha 46, Franjic 90)

Crowd 8,239

Reds see red but grab points

A nine man Adelaide were able to hold on to give new manager Joseph Gombau a winning start.  The match was barred by yet another questionable refereeing performance by a card happy Ben Williams.  A brace from Jeronimo Neumann sealed the result in what was the best game of the weekend.  Perth failed to take advantage of the two man advantage showing no indication of their solid preseason form in the opening round.  The Reds made sure of an entertaining match and gave their fans something to look forward to after last season’s fade out.

Adelaide 3 (Jeronimo 9,24 Ferreira 64) defeated Perth 1 (Nagai 11)

Crowd 10,320

Number of the week – 100,998

The number of fans who broke the A-League attendance record

Player of the week – Jeronimo

Minutes Played: 76

Goals: 2

Shots on Target: 3

Passes 10/15

Tackles: 3

(Stats thanks to FourFourTwo Stats Zone)

A first half brace secured the points for his Adelaide Reds

Team of the Week –

PASFIELD (CCM)

ROUX (CCM)           KISNORBO (MH)         RYALL (SYD)       BOJIC (SYD)

FRANJIC (BR)        FLORES (CCM)          DEL PIERO (SYD)     CARLE (SYD)

DUKE (CCM)                JURONIMO (ADE)

Coach of the Week – Frank FARINA (SYD)

Player of the Season votes

Sydney v Newcastle

3 – Seb Ryall

2 – Matt Thompson

1 – Pedj Bojic

Central Coast v Western Sydney

3 – Marco Flores

2 – Iacopo La Rocca

1 – Justin Pasfield

Melbourne Victory v Melbourne Heart

3 – Patrick Kisnorbo

2 – Mitch Nicholls

1 – Massimo Murdocca

Wellington v Brisbane

3 – Ivan Franjic

2 – Manny Muscat

1 – Carlos Hernandez

Adelaide v Perth

3 – Jeronimo Nuemann

2 – Eugene Galekovic

1 -Sidnei

Fantasy Land

An update on our fantasy comp

1st – 75 Fried Chicken FC (Edward Huang)

2nd – 75 Skanking FC (Jay Duthrie)

3rd – 72 FC Stephen Glass (Sean B)

4th – 67 BDM FC (Adam El Hadji Diouf Fahy-Majeed)

5th – 66 Pretty Butterflies (Teena Fish)

Our ‘Weekly Wrap’ is a work in progress and we would love to have your input to this section of the site.  Feel free to make suggestions, or leave some feedback via out site, Facebook page or on Twitter.

 

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