Melbourne City FC
3
Match Complete
Western United FC
2
| 94' |  | A. Durante | ||
| A. Luna | | 84' | ||
| 79' |  | A. Diamanti | ||
| H. Delbridge |  | 78' | ||
| 75' | | B. Berisha | ||
| N. Atkinson | | 65' | ||
| 51' | | V. Yuel | ||
| J. Maclaren | | 44' | ||
| A. Luna | | 36' | ||
| R. Windbichler | | 29' | ||
| J. Maclaren | | 5' |
| 21 | Shots | 8 | ||
| 6 | On Target | 3 | ||
| 13 | Fouls | 13 | ||
| 6 | Corners | 0 | ||
| 1 | Offsides | 3 | ||
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 | ||
| 4 | Yellow Cards | 2 |
Round 13 continues with Melbourne City and Western United at AAMI Park. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 7:30pm (AEDT).
City and Western United have not been playing the best football lately, and results have gone against them over the last two rounds – and yet they sit second and fourth on the table respectively.
City faced a tough turnaround after their derby defeat to Melbourne Victory. They were tasked with taking on Sydney FC in Sydney. They conceded, were able to equalise through Connor Metcalfe and conceded once more to go down 2-1.
Western United took an in-form Wellington to Ballarat, where they fell 3-1, Alessandro Diamanti scoring a late consolation goal from the penalty spot.
Wholesale changes have been made by both teams. City have been forced into replacing Tom Glover, Connor Metcalfe, Denis Genreau and Ramy Najjarine, with all four players away with the Olyroos.
Moudi Najjar, Raphael Borges Rodrigues, Idrus Abdulahi, Stefan Colakovski and Joe Gauci have been brought in to replace the national representatives, while Scott Jamieson returns from illness.
Glover being away gives Dean Bouzanis a chance to earn his spot back between the posts, with plenty more of City’s youth a chance to get some minutes.
A pair of central defenders were injured in Ballarat for Western United. Brendan Hamill and Aaron Calver both come out of the squad.
Ivan Vujica and Ersan Gulum are the defenders that come into the squad, while Panagiotis Kone comes back from injury and Sebastian Pasquali is named in the extended squad for the first time this season.
Prediction
The Olyroos squad unquestionably hurts City. But while they’ve still got Jamie Maclaren and skilled wingers to find him against a leggy defence, they should be okay going forward.
City to win 2-0.
Join The Roar for live scores and updates from 7:30 (AEDT), and don’t forget to leave a comment below.
Game information
Where: AAMI Park, Melbourne
When: 7:30pm (AEDT)
TV: Fox Sports 505
Online: Kayo Sports, Foxtel
Melbourne City squad
2. Scott Galloway, 3. Scott Jamieson (c), 4. Harrison Delbridge, 6. Josh Brillante, 7. Rostyn Griffiths, 8. Javier Cabrera, 9. Jamie Maclaren, 10. Florin Berenguer, 11. Craig Noone, 13. Nathaniel Atkinson, 19. Lachlan Wales, 20. Adrian Luna, 22. Curtis Good, 23. Dean Bouzanis, 30. Moudi Najjar, 35. Raphael Borges Rodrigues, 40. Richard Windbichler, 46. Joe Gauci, 49. Stefan Colakovski.
Western United squad
1. Filip Kurto, 4. Andrew Durante, 5. Dylan Pierias, 7. Valentino Yuel, 8. Panagiotis Kone, 9. Apostolos Stamatelpoulos, 10. Scott McDonald, 11. Connor Pain, 12. Dario Jertec, 13. Ivan Vujica, 14. Max Burgess, 15. Jonathan Aspropotamitis, 17. Joshua Cavallo, 18. Besart Berisha, 21. Sebastian Pasquali, 22. Ersan Gulum, 23. Alessandro Diamanti (c), 26. Kwabena Appiah-Kubi 27. Jerry Skotadis, 30. Ryan Scott.
Referee: Adam Kersey
Assistant referee 1: Daniel Ilievski
Assistant referee 2: Andrew Meimarakis
Fourth official: Daniel Elder
VAR: Alex King
Stevo
Roar Rookie
I think we start with the thought "he ends up stopping a dangerous attack by unfair means" and then construct a reason to justify it. Anyway, I think it was pretty harsh and so did the commentary team for what it's worth.
Stevo
Roar Rookie
“Utter tosh” “Basic biomechanics tells us a human will try to brace the impact of the fall by placing his arm close to his body to provide support” –so, so wrong. And what support is provided by having your arms close to the body? By extending your arm into the fall you ensure that the first contact with the ground is your arm not your torso/head. Your arm then collapses absorbing some of the downward momentum preventing it from being absorbed totally by your torso/head. It’s called self preservation.
Nemesis
Guest
Utter tosh. Clear case of Red Card. Probably missed by the onfield ref because he's looking front on. But from the side camera it's obvious that Delbridge extends his arm to stop the ball going past him. And, if Delbridge is a defender of any repute, he'd be well aware that there were 2 WUN attackers on their own centrally & if the ball got to them they'd tap it in for a goal. If there were not WUN players in that position, I guarantee Delbridge wouldn't be falling like that. Basic biomechanics tells us a human will try to brace the impact of the fall by placing his arm close to his body to provide support. Not by extending his arm far above his head.
Roberto B
Guest
at first I thought along the same lines as you, but seeing the replay a few times, it seems to me that he extends his arm much more than you would in that sort of motion, and he increases the chances of the ball hitting his arm, especially considering where the ball would be placed by the attacking team, he ends up stopping a dangerous attack by unfair means
Stevo
Roar Rookie
The red card. Delbo was falling to the ground and the natural thing to do is to break your fall by extending your arm to the ground. We have a host of refs on and around the pitch and in the the VAR Situation Room and none of them seem to understand the basic mechanics of human motion. I despair. VAR has created the perfect opportunity to over officiate without common sense.
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Classic Heart/City. Anyway, 3 pts in the bag, move on :laughing:
Jacob Blakeney
Roar Guru
Match Report: The old saying goes “it’s a game of two halves”. The 2 halves of tonight were not of equal length. City started brilliantly with Jamie Maclaren being in the right spot to knock home a goal line scramble following Lachie Wales’ shot after dribbling by Sebastian Pasquali. City scored another one through Adrian Luna when he volleyed a Craig Noone cross that caught the WU defenders ball watching. WU made very few chances for themselves in the first half, their best coming when Alessandro Diamanti saw a long range shot through traffic blocked on the line by Curtis Good. City would be gifted a third goal on the stroke of half time when WU keeper Filip Kurto came out of his area for a ball and was beaten to it by Maclaren. Maclaren then had an empty net to shoot into. At half time the score was 3-0 in favour of City. For the first 30’ minutes of the second half, City were cruising. 3-0 was the score, WU were not offering anything in attack and their defence was un troubled. WU had made all 3 of their substitutions and they proved to be inspired moves. 1 of those subs, Josh Cavallo was sent through on goal by Diamanti and was taken out by a rushing Dean Bouzanis. Besart Berisha stepped up to take the resulting penalty and scored. Minutes later, another of the subs - Dylan Pierias - cut the ball back low towards Berisha and had the ball blocked by the outstretched arm of a sliding Harrison Delbridge. Another penalty was awarded, and Delbridge shown a yellow card. On VAR review, Delbridge’s yellow was upgraded to a red and City were down to 10 men. Diamanti stepped up to take the penalty and duly converted. The final 10 minutes was a desperate defensive effort to hang on for City, which they eventually did. The win sees City consolidate their 2nd spot on the table while WU stay 4th for now, but they could slip behind Adelaide and/or Wellington depending on tomorrow’s results.
Shane Powell
Guest
It was't cramp he went off for. It was after he was hacked by Pasquali
Mark.
Roar Rookie
Can’t have lapses like that if we want to challenge Sydney but good effort to hold them out at the end.
Jacob Blakeney
Roar Guru
I can't say I saw the Duke incident, but Delbridge's tonight was harsh. In my opinion and interpretation - Penalty, yes. Booking, possibly. Red card, no.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
Going down to 10 didn't help. How Duke got away with nothing last week yet Delbridge gets upgraded by VAR tonight is part of the inconsistency, partially rule based, that needs to be ironed out.
Jacob Blakeney
Roar Guru
Based on the first 75' easily. But they weren't exactly comfortable in the last 15'.
Jacob Blakeney
Roar Guru
Thank you for joining The Roar for the coverage of what turned out to be a rather tight thriller. A-League continues tomorrow with 2 matches starting with Wellington v CCM. Write up for this one up soon.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
City deserved winners.
Jacob Blakeney
Roar Guru
Full Time! City 3 - 2 WU
Jacob Blakeney
Roar Guru
95' Noone wins a corner. They'll keep it by the flag. City 3 - 2 WU
94'
Jacob Blakeney
Roar Guru
Yellow card WU 94' Durante shown a yellow for a tackle on Galloway. City 3 - 2 WU
Jacob Blakeney
Roar Guru
93' WU throwing everything forward to grab an equaliser. City 3 - 2 WU
Jacob Blakeney
Roar Guru
92' Diamanti's cross is blocked back to him. His follow up shot his saved low by Bouzanis. City 3 - 2 WU