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Maybe the A-League Men got what it deserved when what should have been a marquee Sunday fixture ended with Western Sydney and Wellington playing out a scoreless draw.
Alex Paulsen wasn’t going to let the blistering Parramatta sunshine bother him.
Preferred in goal by new Phoenix coach Giancarlo Italiano to former Newcastle custodian Jack Duncan, the 21-year-old pulled off a string of impressive saves to frustrate the Wanderers in front of a small crowd at CommBank Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
His first save of the day was undoubtedly his best, as the Phoenix academy graduate flung himself to his left to spectacularly tip a Nicolas Milanovic effort bound for the top corner over the crossbar.
Paulsen showed it was no fluke as he clawed away a Marcus Antonsson header soon after, and when he kept out a long-range Jack Clisby strike shortly after the break – this time not quite as convincingly – you just felt like it wasn’t going to be Western Sydney’s day.
Not to be outdone by the youngster between the posts, veteran Lawrence Thomas pulled off a superb save of his own just before half-time when his lightning-fast reflexes saw him push Zawada’s header around the post from a pinpoint Kosta Barbarouses cross.
The Wanderers still had chances to win it at the death, but Clisby headed across goal and substitute Lachlan Brook screwed a snapshot wide to round out a frustrating afternoon for the home side.
Those were the good parts.
The bad part was another 3pm kick-off played in the hottest part of the day, with hardly any fans in the stands and presumably just as few watching on TV.
It’s hard to imagine who actually benefits from these early-afternoon kick-offs.
The pace of the game is always slow because temperatures are too warm, many fans are left sweltering in stadiums that offer zero protection from the sun, and no one is watching on TV.
A modest gallery in Parramatta (Photo by Mike Owen/Getty Images)
Just over 3000 fans turned out for Macarthur’s 1-1 draw with Brisbane Roar at Campbelltown Stadium on Saturday – played at the exact same time the Roar’s women’s team was busy defeating Sydney FC 1-0 – and the lack of online activity across social media for what was the opening round of the season should be a genuine cause for concern.
Of course, all this comes on the back of the Australian Professional Leagues’ decision to sell A-League Grand Final hosting rights to Sydney – a move the governing body belatedly announced it had reversed in the days leading up to the new campaign.
Danny Townsend is gone too – supposedly off to Saudi Arabia – and few will lament the end of an era marked by the APL’s high-handed arrogance and inexplicable inability to read the room.
Townsend’s successor is ultimately likely to be Nick Garcia – another APL administrator with close ties to the City Football Group – while new independent A-Leagues chair Stephen Conroy is a self-confessed Melbourne City fan.
The A-Leagues continue to take their cues from the City Football Group – with little to show for it.
At least Perth Glory’s ownership woes have finally been resolved, even if new coach Alen Stajcic will be desperately disappointed to have watched his side concede a 92nd-minute equaliser in their 2-2 draw with the Newcastle Jets.
I spoke with the former Matildas coach in the build-up to the new campaign and he remains one of the A-League’s most impressive thinkers.
(Photo by Hagen Hopkins – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
Stajcic knows full well he needs his Glory side to play an entertaining brand of football to bring supporters back to HBF Park, and he came within minutes of registering a first win in his first competitive game in charge.
Instead, it was Apostolos Stamatelopoulos who made the most of an error of judgement by new Perth keeper Oli Sail, as the Jets striker headed home a free-kick after Sail raced off his goal-line and got nowhere near the ball.
Glory’s new ownership group is at least one less headache for the APL to contend with.
But following an opening weekend in which fans stayed away in droves, the game’s administrators surely need to reconsider kick-off times that no one seems willing to attend.