Round Two Report

A huge crowd of almost 40,000 at the Telstra Dome witnessed easily the best match of the round, an epic duel between probably the league's most fierce rivals. Five goals, one red card, a broken collarbone, an off-the-ball incident headed for video review, poor quality refereeing, an irate coach on the sideline, feigning, diving, Brazilians tripping over the ball while executing stepovers, it was a match that wanted to bite your head off and spit it out on the pitch for use as a proxy ball. If the league can deliver three spectacles like this each year, fans everywhere will be grateful. (Something we can probably do without is the jerk who threw a lit flare off the third-tier of the stadium down onto spectators below. I have no beef with flares, but if you light one then you ought to take responsibility for its safe handling not throw it around like a piece of confetti so as not to be sighted in possession.)

Queensland visited Newcastle and returned on top of the league following a string of horrendous defensive errors. Chad Gibson and Paul Okon scored bizarre own goals -- Gibson's a classic piece of hesitation and miscommunication between himself and Liam Reddy in goals, while Okon, attempting to clear the ball for a corner, instead tucked a low shot ball beneath his diving goalkeeper into the centre of the net. Queensland look like scoring a lot of goals this year, but it remains to be seen if they can match their league best defensive record from last season. Newcastle were unlucky to lose. If they can get their act together over the coming weeks, the league is shaping up as an ultra tight affair.

That's because the Knights are the real deal. They defeated Adelaide thanks to a wonder strike from Malik Buari, but also due to the smart, rugged, highly organised type of play that characterised the Reds' superlative performances last year. Paul Nevin has brought the right tactics into play for last season's strugglers: it's not about finesse, it's about doing the graft to earn vital league points. Adelaide on the other hand seem to be in a spot of bother. If their big guns (Qu, Rech, Dodd, Veart) fail to fire, as they have on the past two occasions, they seem to find it tough to manufacture chances. The introduction of Bobby Petta on the left might make a difference, but if it doesn't some early alarm bells may start ringing for the current league champions.

Too new marquees duelled in the round's final match between Perth and Central Coast. Stan Lazaridis threw down the gauntlet with a vintage dashing performance, while Tony Vidmar did what he could to stem the tide of relentless Glory forays on the Mariners goal. It was another highly paid recent Socceroo who swung the match. Simon Colosimo has been out of form and out of favour with Glory fans ever since the commencement of the Hyundai A-League, but finally the pendulum seems to be swinging in the other direction for him. His cheeky goal, stolen with a quickly taken free kick (no Mariner stood over the ball), capped off a creative, mobile performance that immediately puts him back in the picture for future national team representation in the crux defensive midfield position. Leo Bertos also deserves mention for another zippy outing on the right flank. Perth seemed to have it a mountain ahead of them after the late mauling in Queensland last week, but the season is well and truly back on track. On the other hand, the Mariners will need to dig deep and find something to enliven their campaign, which doesn't get any easier with unbeaten pair Queensland and Melbourne up next. Last year, they always had an answer: Heffernan's goal-scoring runs from deep, Petrie's lethal poaching, Hutchinson's magical spell, Pondeljak's sublime vision, Gumprecht's hard running and eye for goal, Spencer's booming long shots. So far this year, the individual brilliance has been missing.

Best of Round Two:

Player: Kevin Muscat, Melbourne (pictured) - gave Corica too much space early on, but solid defensively thereafter and the supplier of a magnificent long ball for Allsopp to score, one that carried way too much heat for Milligan to clear

U-20 Player: Alex Vrteski, Perth - didn't have much to do, but, nevertheless, a clean sheet on home debut

Coach: Paul Nevin, New Zealand - tightened the screws in midfield to shut down Adelaide's creative nexus, pulling off the Knights' first ever home victory

Match: Melbourne Victory vs Sydney FC

Goal: Malik Buari, New Zealand - powerful shot sensationally curled into the top corner from wide outside the box

4-4-2 Team of the Week:

Daniel Allsopp - Reinaldo
Stan Lazaridis - Simon Colosimo - Kevin Muscat - Leo Bertos
Alessandro - Michael Valkanis - Neil Emblen - Labinot Haliti
Robert Bajic

Subs: Danny Milosevic, Iain Fyfe, Scott Gemmill, Malik Buari