Roar Guru
The Melbourne Heart thrashed Sydney 4-0 and are on a bit of a roll. Their coach, John van ‘t Schip, is talking up their championship ambitions. Join us at 3pm ADST this afternoon when the Heart host Adelaide United at AAMI Park to see if their climb up the table can continue.
The Heart’s opponents, Adelaide United, are themselves playing with renewed vigour following the return of home-town hero, John Kosmina.
After a horror start to the season, which saw the departure of Rini Coolen, Adelaide are in the fortunate position of all the other teams vying for the lower reaches of the top six struggling for wins.
Adelaide United can work their way into sixth spot by the end of this round of matches if other results go their way.
No nonsense coach that he is, Kosmina will go into the match with the attitude: if none of the Victory, Glory or Jets want that spot, we’ll have it, thanks very much.
He has to contend with the form team of the competition. Five consecutive wins have propelled the Heart into second spot, and following a 4-0 away drubbing of SFC, they aren’t about to give it up too easily.
Unfortunately for van ‘t Schip, he has lost some key personnel for this match in captain Fred and midfield pair Wayne Srhoj and Jonatan Germano.
Fred in particular has been in sensational form, perhaps the player of the competition in the season to date, and will be sorely missed.
Form and home ground advantage will have the Heart as odds on favourite, but I can see Adelaide making this a tough outing for the Heart, splitting the points with a 1-1 draw.