A-League Round 19 My Review
It was possibly the best weekend of football as far as entertainment was concerned with every game offering exciting football for the neutral. There was a total of 16 goals in the 5 games that were played that substantiates the fact that Round 19 was an entertaining one to watch.
Friday February 15th
Phoenix v Victory
This game wasn’t the high scoring contest that there was earlier this season, but it was another draw. Fillip Kurto was back and made an important save to keep the Phoenix in it; that’s what you expect from a goal keeper of his quality so it was no surprise. Roy Krishna opened the scoring in the 2nd half, but his goal was cancelled out by a penalty that was put into the back of the net by Keisuke Honda to ensure that the game finished in a draw.
Phoenix Game Changer: Roy Krishna
Victory Game Changer: Keisuke Honda
Jets v City
City probably thought that they were just going to turn up and win this game; at least that’s the impression that they gave. The Jets were forced to rest a lot of their players as they played an Asian Champions League playoff on Tuesday night. The way the 2 teams played it appeared as if the Jets were the favourites to win this match, but City who were the resounding favourites, which probably meant that they were complacent. Jair was outstanding for the Jets in his best performance for the Jets this season; He opened the scoring midway through the 1st half for the Jets. City equalised in the 2nd half through Jamie Maclaren. From there on the Jets dominated with 2 more goals thanks to substitutes Jo Champness and Roy O’Donovan both making an impact scoring 1 goal each. It was hard to decipher whether the Jets were good or City were bad.
Jets Game Changers: Jair, Roy O’Donovan
City Game Changer: Jamie Maclaren
Saturday February 16th
Reds v Wanderers
This was a cracking game of football with the Wanderers opening the scoring through a quality header from Oriol Riera. The Reds had an opportunity to equalize through a penalty taken by Craig Goodwin, but he failed to convert the chance into a goal. Ryan Kitto managed to score the equalizer for the Reds shortly before the half time break. Roly Bonevacia was outstanding for the Wanderers with a goal and plenty of good work in the final 3rd and Abraham Majok finished with a goal as well to make the final score 3-1 in favour of the Wanderers.
Reds Game Changer: George Blackwood
Wanderers Game Changer: Roly Bonevacia
Glory v Roar
The Glory were outstanding in this game from start to finish; the tactics put in place by Tony Popovic worked almost flawlessly with the Glory dominating the game. It was a joy to watch the Glory play; they were good in every department except perhaps in the final 3rd; they scored 4 goals, but it should have been a lot more. The Roar have their goalkeeper, Brendan White to thank for the margin not being more than 4 goals, as he made some great saves to keep the scoreboard more respectable than it should have been.
Glory Game Changers: Jason Davidson, Diego Castro
Roar Game Changer: Brendan White
Sunday February 17th
Sky Blues v Mariners
It wasn’t the best game of football, but it was a tough, tight contest with 2 teams who needed a win; the Sky Blues to endeavour to guarantee themselves a home final and the other in the Mariners to avoid the wooden spoon. The game ended 1 all in what was probably a fair result. To be fair to the players the weather was extremely hot.
Sky Blues Game Changer: Milos Ninkovic
Mariners Game Changer: Andrew Hoole