So it’s now Tuesday and you might be wondering, “why wasn’t there a Match Day Monday on Monday?” Well my friend, the answer is I’ve worked the weekend at a folk festival. Since Thursday I have seen a lot of wrists for wrist banding, replied to plenty of people stating “no camping was sold out months ago… no there is no waiting list you can go on to get a camping ticket for the weekend” and had little time to follow this weekend’s W-League action.
Last Thursday ahead of this round of games, I predicted most of the games would be dull, with clear winners. Boy were the Soccer Gods having a laugh at me. Yes I was partly hoping for a more dull week so all I had to type up this week was “same old, same old FINALLY for a round of W-League games this year”. But once I finally got on my Twitter late Friday night I realised this was not going to be the case. Newcastle Jets were meant to cruise past Adelaide United, with style and class? But did they? NO. They flaming fell at the hurdles, succumbing to the pressure of being outright favourites for this game and lost to Adelaide.
After weeks of doing very little, I’m still feeling the effects of a long weekend working at a folk festival, I’m exhausted so I have yet to watch any actual game from this weekend. Instead here is my reaction to each game, and how I imagine it went based on Twitter.
Round 11
Newcastle Jets 1 – 2 Adelaide United
What happened? If you were able to watch the game on Fox Sport or SBS you could probably tell me. I’ll catch a replay of the game once I catch up on sleep. But by the look of Adelaide’s goals, the Jets just could deal with dead ball situations, goals off a free kick and corner. Adelaide getting their second goal late in the first half meant there was plenty of opportunity for the Jets to pull at least a goal back. Alas, the Jets ability as a second half team and scoring late on was nowhere to be found Friday night. Any team capable of making this Jets side look lacklustre deserves the pundits, apparently Adelaide did this. So well played Adelaide, well played.
Melbourne Victory 2 – 1 Melbourne City
This result makes me over the moon with happiness. I love derbies, especially when the “underdog” wins them. And this happened. All season Victory have busted it out and ground out games, just getting pipped at the post. According to this score line, that didn’t happen this week. They were finally able to get one over their neighbours with this win to prove they are better than the wooden spoon this year. Even sweeter? Victory won this game coming from a goal behind. The result prevents City from steamrolling and gaining momentum in the dying stages of this competition, and gives Victory another well deserved win under their belt.
Canberra United 2 – 0 Western Sydney Wanderers
The only game that went as planned. Canberra looked the favourites, especially after last weekend’s annihilation of Adelaide, and they conquered again this time against Western Sydney. Western Sydney are a solid side, who are defensively strong. This showed even though Canberra got two goals, getting them within a minute of each other around the 75 minute mark. Canberra have obviously have something working for them, and hopefully are settling into some form of tactics that work for a side that have had a few this season trying to find the magical way to put all the pieces together. Canberra for the top four? Could still happen after this.
Perth Glory 0 – 2 Sydney FC
I thought this game would be tighter. And yes while following on Twitter with barely open eyes, even with an early goal and a second early in the second half, I was pretty certain Perth would come back and break my heart. Further concern was when Kylie Ledbrook got a red card 71 minutes into play. If anyone had seen Sam Kerr v Seattle reign last year, they would know a 2-0 advantage over a side with Kerr is not enough and to be worried. Luckily for me, Sydney held on and continue to stake their claim on a top 4 spot, pushing into second. Meanwhile Perth are having to face the reality of their mid-season slump. Something has gone on, and they just aren’t scoring as freely as they were early this season or winning games. Time to get back to the drawing board for Perth if they want a chance at rectifying last season’s Championship loss.
MOLLY'S FOOTY RANTS 