HARBOURSPORT |
A-LEAGUE |
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Melbourne Victory put themselves in the box seat to finish as minor premiers when they recorded a 2-0 win over Wellington Phoenix at Telstra Dome on Friday night. Wellington needed a win to have any hope of qualifying for the finals, and got off to a bright start. Ben Sigmund had a golden opportunity early which needed a fine save by Michael Theoklitos to prevent a score. Shane Smeltz and Leo Bertos both went for long-range strikes, but Theoklitos was again up to the task and the scores remained deadlocked. Against the run of play, the Victory opened the scoring shortly before half-time. Matthew Kemp went for a run inside the penalty area, to be brought down by Manny Muscat and Ben Sigmund. Referee Shane Delovski pointed to the spot, and Kevin Muscat made no mistake to put the Victory 1-0 ahead. Phoenix pressed hard for an equaliser after the break, and Jon McKain butchered a golden opportunity to score. But as the half went on, the equaliser appeared less likely as the Victory began to get a greater flow of possession. In injury time, Archie Thompson forced a turnover then struck to the corner of the net, leaving Phoenix keeper Glenn Moss no chance. The goal not only put the Victory win beyond doubt, but with the Victory having scored more goals than Adelaide this season, the Reds will need to beat Central Coast by 2 goals on Sunday to take top spot. Melbourne Victory 2 (K Muscat 40pen, A Thompson 90) Wellington Phoenix 0. Yellow Cards : Victory - D Allsopp, N Fabiano. Phoenix - Nil. Referee - S Delovski. Crowd - 28,905 at Docklands. Queensland Roar needed a win to keep their chances of a top-2 finish alive, and they achieved that with a 4-2 home win over Perth Glory on Saturday night. The home crowd was silenced early when Nikita Rukavytsya weaved his way around the Roar defence before his strike hit the back of the net. But just 7 minutes later, the match was back on level terms when Van Dijk's header was blocked only for the ball to ricochet to the feet of Matthew Nicholls for the simplest of tap-ins. It was 1-1 at the break, but shortly after the hour Danny Tiatto put the home side in front; his long-range strike leaving Glory keeper Tando Velaphi no hope. 4 minutes later Anthony Skorich headed in an equaliser; but late goals to van Dijk and McCloughan were enough to give the Roar the points. Should Central Coast defeat or draw with Adelaide, the Roar will leap-frog the Reds into the top 2. Queensland Roar 4 (M Nicholls 28, D Tiatto 63, S Van Dijk 77, J McCloughan 82) Perth Glory 2 (N Rukavytsya 21, A Skorich 67). Yellow Cards : Roar - D Tiatto 66. Glory - V Sikora 25, S Neville 54. Referee - P O'Leary. Crowd - 17,367 at Suncorp Stadium. |
FINALS FIXTURES - SEMI FINALS Friday 6th February Minor Semi-Final - 1st Leg Central Coast Mariners v Queensland Roar (Bluetongue Stadium, 8:00pm) Saturday 7th February Major Semi-Final - 1st Leg Adelaide United v Melbourne Victory (Hindmarsh Stadium, 7:00pm) Friday 13th February Minor Semi-Final - 2nd Leg Queensland Roar v Central Coast Mariners (Suncorp Stadium, 8:30pm) Saturday 14th February Major Semi-Final - 2nd Leg Melbourne Victory v Queensland Roar (Telstra Dome, 7:00pm) All times shown are Sydney time |