Great to see Central Coast and Newcastle pull enormous crowds over the New Year's break. Just a shame both teams lost. Injuries hurt the Mariners, who only managed to field 3 fit players on the bench, while the Jets seemed undone by the woeful state of their pitch.
Sydney's three points means that the FFA's 3-points suspension for salary cap breahces is now practically irrelevant, at least in terms of making the final four. With an appeal deadline imminent, will SFC try to clear its name or simply accept the FFA's decision and move on?
Ernie Merrick promised player rotation going into the last few rounds, starting in goals. Eugene Galekovic was handed the gloves and played well in the Victory's win over the Mariners. Michael Ferrante and Vince Lia were also offered rare appearances, neither greatly impressing which isn't surprising given the lack of match practice. Faring better was midfielder Brad Porter, given the difficult task of filling in at stopper alongside Alex Wilkinson. Both dealed about as well as can be expected with Archie Thompson and Daniel Allsopp - now one of the deadliest striker partnerships in Australian domestic football history.
Nothing prepared us for the rout in Auckland, where the Knights stunned the Roar with a marvellous three goal barrage. It was the first time New Zealand had scored more than twice, and the win puts the cellar dwellers within reach of 7th placed Perth. Enormous kudos to Ricky Herbert, Neil Emblen (awesome performance up front), Darren Bazeley (back to an acceptable standard), John Tambouras (his return a bit of a talisman for the Knights), Che Bunce, Richard Johnson, Jonas Salley, Lelei Gao, Alen Marcina and the rest of the tightrope-treading organisation for getting out there and playing some football.
Things might have been worse for Glory had Adelaide managed to snatch a win from the round's earliest match. The Reds continue their erratic season - we know they're good enough to beat Melbourne and Sydney, but they continue to play in patches (some breathtaking, others unbelievably inept) and make hard work of every game they play. Adrian Webster and Jamie Harnwell weren't paying much attention, however, preferring to exchange pleasantries with each other after the 0-0 draw was brought to a conclusion. The Perth captain left the sticks and stones on the ground, but seemed to aim a few choice words at the fiery Webster, who in appreciation for the wit planted a hand on Jamie's face. Fortunately neither of the subsequent flying fists made contact.
And now we head into 2007, the year of Australia's first major step into Asia with stints in the Asian Champions League and Asian Cup awaiting.
Best of Round Eighteen:
Player: Neil Emblen, New Zealand - hard to look past someone from the Knights, the hardest of whom to ignore was Emblen - the big man promoted to the front line, where he displayed excellent control, distribution and leadership
U-20 Player: Ruben Zadkovich, Sydney - briefly shifted to right-back
Coach: Terry Butcher, Sydney - forced to re-shuffle the backline, with Zadkovich effective at right fullback and Fyfe tucked inside. Thanks especially to Milligan, Talay, McFlynn and Corica neutralised Nick Carle and the massively in form Mark Bridge.
Match: Melbourne Victory vs Central Coast Mariners
Goal: Sasho Petrovski, Sydney
4-4-2 Team of the Week:
Archie Thompson - Neil Emblen
Dario Vidosic - Steve Corica - Terry McFlynn - David Carney
Damien Brown - Che Bunce - Alex Wilkinson - Ruben Zadkovich
Tommi Tomich
Subs: Ante Covic, David Tarka, Richard Johnson, Adam Kwasnik
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