| PHOTO: Jim Webster |
There were plenty of goals in Round 14 of the National Youth League (NYL) as the Victory won the Melbourne Youth Derby, the Mariners won with nine men and Sydney and Perth played out a thriller, plus much, much more.
A nine man Central Coast Mariners held onto their first-half lead to defeat Adelaide United 2-1 on Saturday morning.
Adriano Pellegrino was sent off after just eight minutes for spitting at Adelaide’s Jacob Melling, but the Mariners took the lead after 24 minutes thanks to a great finish from Patrick Dixon.
Central Coast then doubled their lead six minutes later as Brad McDonald capitalized on defensive misunderstanding and slotted into an empty net.
Ten minutes after the resumption Thomas Briscoe cut the deficit after Mariners’ gloveman David Bradasevic made a mess of a clearance.
The Mariners finished with nine as Hayden Morton was given his marching order for pulling down Liam Wooding as the last man.
The Newcastle Jets eased past the AIS with a 5-2 thrashing in Canberra on Saturday afternoon.
Marko Jesic opened the scoring just after 76 seconds finishing into the bottom corner past AIS goalkeeper Lucas Spinella.
However Marc Marino leveled for the Institute on 37 minutes with a fine finish after Steve Kuzmanovski confused the defence with some cheeky step-overs.
But substitute Brandon Lundy regained the lead for the Jets 24 seconds after coming on at half-time, with a nice finish from a tight angle.
Shortly later Lundy grabbed his brace with a wonderful curling effort into the top corner, although Jesic went one better with an exquisite lob.
With five minutes remaining Lundy powered in his third completing his hat-trick, before Joshua Barresi bundled home the AIS’ second in stoppage-time.
The Melbourne Victory were too strong for the Melbourne Heart in the Melbourne Youth Derby on Sunday at SS Anderson Reserve with a 3-1 win.
Victory Skipper Luke O’Dea thumped into the top corner past Alastair Bray to open the scoring.
Pain skinned Ersin Kaya and sent in a drilled cross only for Heart defender Will Abbott to slide in and fire into the roof of his own net giving the Victory a two-goal lead.
On 26 minutes the Victory made it 3-0 as Makarounas, in his first Victory appearance, found the bottom corner with a great low finish from the edge of the area.
Heart’s dismal first-half continued as Groenewald was given his marching orders for a strong, late challenge on Pain.
Stefan Mauk beat two defenders and bounced a strike nicely into the bottom corner giving the Heart a consolidation.
The Western Sydney Wanderers convincingly defeated the Brisbane Roar 4-0 at Cook Park on Sunday evening.
Jason Trifiro got the hosts off to a great start as the midfielder slammed the opener after a nice lay off from Daniel Barac.
On 34 minutes Yianni Perkatis doubled Western Sydney’s advantage placing the ball into the bottom corner past Roar ‘keeper Fraser Chalmers.
Mark Cindric then added the third with a sweet, powerful strike.
Brisbane finished with ten men as Kwame Yeboah received his second yellow and was sent to the stands.
Soon afterwards Rock Visconte fired in the fourth, scoring against the club he left only a few weeks ago.
Meanwhile at the Intiga Stadium, Sydney FC edged out Perth Glory 4-3 in a thrilling encounter.
Hagi Gligor gave the Sky Blues an early lead poking home form close-range after Perth couldn’t clear on just 16 minutes.
Harry O’Brien, though, leveled for the Glory eleven minutes later from outside the box.
It didn’t take the Glory long to take the lead as Ndumba Makeche blasted in off the upright.
But Perth could only keep their lead for three minutes as defender Daniel Petkovski rifled in from the edge of the area equalizing for the visitors.
Nikola Taneski then gave the visitors the lead nine minutes after the break
Just after the hour mark the Sky Blues made it 4-2 as Petkovski was found unmarked and headed in his second.
Brandon O’Neill’s stunning free kick meant the last 12 minutes were tense, but Sydney held on for a much-need win.
