By Liam FitzGibbon
February 1st 2010 @ 2:05am
Related coverage
Melbourne Victory still in front, but race far from over
Melbourne are in the box seat to claim the A-League minor premiership and Asian Champions League qualification but face an anxious wait on the availability of two key players for their remaining matches.
The Victory will enter the penultimate round of the season on top of the table despite their 1-0 loss to Gold Coast on Friday night after Sydney FC missed a chance to go top in Saturday’s 1-0 defeat in Brisbane.
Melbourne sit equal on 44 points with Gold Coast but have a superior for-and-against record, meaning wins in their last two matches of the regular season against North Queensland and Sydney FC would almost certainly see them claim a third minor premiership.
But there are significant doubts surrounding the availability of captain Kevin Muscat and young gun Robbie Kruse for Friday’s match against the Fury, and potentially beyond, in the wake of their heated clash with United.
Muscat’s fate will be determined by the A-League match review panel early this week over an off-the-ball incident in which he appeared to strike Gold Coast captain Jason Culina in the face.
Kruse, meanwhile, will have an assessment on a shoulder injury suffered in another off-the-ball encounter with Gold Coast’s Steve Pantelidis, who looked to have used his elbow and is also likely to attract attention from the panel.
The Victory should at least welcome back star striker Archie Thompson against the Fury after he missed the trip to Gold Coast with an ankle problem.
Melbourne’s injury and disciplinary worries means Miron Bleiberg’s United will still fancy their chances of finishing top, particularly given a favourable run home in which they play Wellington at home and North Queensland away.
Sydney sit only a point behind the leading pair, but are likely to need beat both Perth and Melbourne at home and rely on Gold Coast to drop points.
The sky blues were left furious after their failure to get a result at Suncorp Stadium, but still believe they are in the reckoning despite winning only one of their past four games.
“We knew we could have gone top, it was in our hands, now it is going to be tough,” Captain Steve Corica said after the loss.
“We obviously need six points and then whatever happens, happens.
“Maybe at this stage of the season it (our form) probably isn’t good enough, but anyone can beat anyone in this league.
“There are a lot of surprises in the A-League, with two games to go there is a lot to play for.”
Central Coast’s finals hopes were officially killed off with a 3-1 defeat to Perth at ME Bank Stadium on Sunday night, joining Adelaide United on this season’s scrapheap.
The result moved Perth up to fourth spot while it also guaranteed Wellington a maiden finals berth following their 1-0 win over Adelaide in front of almost 20,000 fans in Christchurch on Saturday.
The Roar remain some hope of sneaking into the playoffs after their upset over Sydney while ninth-placed North Queensland also still have a faint mathematical chance.
The Fury and the sixth-placed Newcastle have a game in hand on the rest of the competition after their match due to be played at Dairy Farmers Stadium on Saturday was postponed until Tuesday due to the extreme rain in Townsville.
Get Australia's best Football opinion emailed daily.
Like this content? Buzz it up!
Free Email updates:
Our daily emails are only sent if there is content for the sport or that author. You can subscribe to multiple daily emails; or get the daily Roar email with all our content in it. We value privacy. More...
