Round 25 was a weekend of football that had plenty of action. There were five games due to the Central Coast Mariners vs Adelaide United game being postponed. Two of the five games were draws and there were three red cards, with two for Macarthur FC, who fought on bravely.
Interestingly, the round comprised of a 0-0 draw, with seven out of 13 goals scored in the final game of the weekend in a bottom-of-the-table clash between Perth Glory and Western United. In all three games where a team claimed three points, the winning team had less possession than their opponent.
Check out which players made the difference for their respective teams.
Newcastle Jets
Ryan Scott put in a quality display; the former Western United keeper made a great save from Mohamed Al-Taay in the 33rd minute and from Alex Rufer in first-half stoppage time.
The Jets goalkeeper made an amazing save to deny Kosta Barbarouses in the 60th minute and a quality save with his foot from Ben Old in the 63rd minute.
Post-match he was measured: “It’s always nice to make a couple of saves. It was a tough couple of years. Just really happy to be playing week in, week out. We had a couple of good chances at 1-0. I want to play for this club. We’ve lost points late in games. We’re fighting for the people”
Wellington Phoenix
Ben Old was a constant threat down the left-hand side.
The 21-year-old created four chances and set up the goal, as his cross led to the equaliser scored by Kosta Barbarouses in the 71st minute, through a deflection off a Jets defender.
There’s no disputing Old has become a solid contributor for the Phoenix and is a player that they when firing is hard to stop.
Western Sydney Wanderers
Marcus Younis came off the bench and he would’ve been stung by being singled out by coach Marko Rudan following the derby loss to the Sky Blues.
The 18-year-old substitute scored the only goal for the Wanderers and he brought plenty of energy off the bench, which gave the Wanderers impetus to go on and get something out of the game in terms of points, which they failed to do.
The goal scored came from a pinpoint cross from fellow substitute Dylan Scicluna in the 69th minute, which made the deficit for the Wanderers one goal.
His comments post-match were intriguing: “I’m blessed that the coach gave me the opportunity. The second half we had was unreal. Special thanks to Scicluna. Football can change very quickly.”
Melbourne City
Jamie Young made some crucial saves, which helped City get the three points.
The 38-year-old is like a fine wine; the experienced goalkeeper gets better with age. Having finished with seven saves is pretty impressive; having only conceded one goal even though he faced an expected-goals stat of 2.39.
His post-match comments were insightful: “It’s not just me it’s the whole team. It was a big game. It was mindset, mentality. We have to go again now and stay humble. We go into every game with confidence.”
Jamie Young. (Photo by Steve Christo – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
Melbourne Victory
Paul Izzo helped Victory claim a point with an outstanding save from a header by Nikola Mileusnic in the 65th minute, which Izzo did well to get a hand to and concede a corner.
The Victory goalkeeper made three saves and helped his team keep a clean sheet.
Brisbane Roar
Corey Brown played well and created six chances for the second week in a row, some coming from open play and the others from corners.
The left-back created the first chance for the Roar, which came in the third minute when he took a pinpoint corner, that was headed wide by Florin Berenguer, which unfortunately was the story of their day.
The 30-year-old worked hard with and without the ball, curtailing the influence of Victory winger Daniel Arzani. It was a game that the Roar deserved to win, but that’s football.
Macarthur FC
Jed Drew played well for the Bulls, as he scored the only goal of the game, which came in first-half stoppage time. Valere Germain played an inch-perfect pass that found Drew and he used his pace; his first shot saved by Andrew Redmayne, only for the Bulls winger to score on the second attempt.
The 20-year-old was measured post-match: “That just shows the character we have in the team, tonight. It just shows we can go far in this competition. We can’t control the decisions, we just need to stick to our plan. We just need to keep adapting.”
Bulls coach Mile Sterjovski appreciated Drew’s performance: “Jed was great on the wing.”
Sydney FC
Joe Lolley did everything in his power for the Sky Blues to get something out of the game in terms of points, but the ball just wouldn’t go in the back of the net.
The 31-year-old created four chances, 13 touches in the opposition box and two shots on target.
The Englishman gave an honest assessment of the game from a Sky Blues perspective and the controversial red card given to opposition player Ivan Vujica: “It was just a very bad night. I think it’s shocking. I’m actually scared of making a tackle.”
Perth Glory
Adam Taggart scored a brace, but somehow the Glory managed to lose the game.
The Socceroo got the Glory back into the game with a fantastic headed goal from a pinpoint cross by John Koutroumbis in the 23rd minute, which made the score 1-1.
The 30-year-old made the score 2-1 in favour of Glory as he pounced on an error from Western United centre-back Tomoki Imai and should’ve had a hat-trick in the 87th minute with a great cross coming from Giordano Colli, but it wasn’t to be.
The Glory captain was honest post-match: “Really, really disappointing. It’s not been good enough this season.”
Western United
Abel Walatee was brought off the bench to make an impact and that’s exactly what the youngster did, given he scored just seven minutes after coming off the bench to give Western United a 3-2 lead with a perfectly aimed shot that hit the post and ended up in the back of the net. Credit to Angus Thurgate for the through ball.
The 20-year-old worked hard with and without the ball and wasn’t content with getting on the score sheet; showing desire, confidence and belief were a trademark of his cameo.
Brendan
Roar Pro
Cheers, Doran. Now bring on the Golden Boot! One more round to see who scores the most goals.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Expected goals is based on the shooting position not how good the shot was. Jamie Young doesnt compare to Ryan Scott saves. I would give it Jankolis for City , good goal always works hard. Rudan how many goals the young guys have scored for him versus minutes and how reluctantly he uses them. Corey brown he was poor defensively, Freke was the one who saved the bacon when Fornaroli beat him and Trewin, and Arzani as well . With the man advantage there was a lot more chances to deliver in the box and he was taking the corners as well. Freke for my money on the Aldred give away he did well to delay the play with his positioning.
Grem
Roar Rookie
A shame the game articles don’t get more clicks. That might change the content we received. David, Brendan, Doran, Scout and usually Stuart actually provide football content!
338
Roar Rookie
Good summary - theres plenty to like about the on park stuff. Games are entertaining and there have been some great individual performances as you highlighted.
Grem
Roar Rookie
Thanks Doran - interesting thoughts, as usual. I’m looking forward to Lolley actually getting some into the back of the net soon. He nearly scores so many times!