Once again the A-League produced some interesting results on the weekend in round 15.
It kicked off on Friday night at Hindmarsh Stadium where Adelaide United hosted Gold Coast United.
It looked as though the visitors would come away with all three points despite being reduced to ten men but a piece of Mathew Leckie brilliance deep into injury time gave the Reds a share of what was on offer and kept their season alive.
Adelaide United: 1 (Mathew Leckie '90+3) Gold Coast United: 1 (Steve Fitzsimmons '64) Venue: Hindmarsh Stadium Crowd: 9,578 Yellow cards:AU - Adam Hughes '6 GCU - Zac Anderson '45+1, James Brown '85 Red cards:GCU - Kristian Rees '32
On Saturday evening, the Melbourne Victory were in Queensland to take on the Brisbane Roar to atone for a 4-0 loss to Central Coast in round 14 whilst the Roar were hoping to back up their 2-0 away win over Adelaide.
In a tight contest, the Victory were lucky to come away with the points after an early Archie Thompson goal should have been cancelled out by a Josh McCloughan header but it was disallowed because Melbourne keeper Mitch Langerak was judged to have been interfered with.
It was a lucky break for the reigning champions but allowed them to return to the top of the A-League table.
Brisbane Roar: 0 Melbourne Victory: 1 (Archie Thompson '8) Venue: Suncorp Stadium Crowd: 9,904 Yellow cards:BR - Andrew Packer '37, David Dodd '45+2 MV - Leigh Broxham '62, Mitch Langerak '82, Mate Dugandzic '90+1, Matthew Kemp '90+1
The second of Saturday's matches saw the Central Coast Mariners in Townsville to take on the North Queensland Fury.
In a mostly one-sided affair, the Mariners came away with a devastating 5-1 win, just two weeks after accounting for Melbourne 4-0 away from home.
For the Fury, it was back to their old ways with a poor defensive performance and the result put them further behind the eight ball in regards to making the top six this season.
North Queensland Fury: 1 (Rostyn Griffiths '68) Central Coast Mariners: 5 (Pedj Bojic '22, Nik Mrdja '35, '59, Ahmad Elrich '62, John Hutchinson '82) Venue: Dairy Farmers Stadium Crowd: 7,587 Yellow cards:NQF - nil CCM - nil
On Sunday, the Wellington Phoenix notched up their first win on the road this season, defeating the Newcastle Jets 1-0 in front of a paltry EnergyAustralia Stadium crowd.
It ended a great week of football for New Zealand after the national team qualified for the World Cup last Saturday and put the Phoenix three points clear of the bottom four.
Newcastle Jets: 0 Wellington Phoenix: 1 (Paul Ifill '14) Venue: EnergyAustralia Stadium Crowd: 4,239 Yellow cards:NEW - Jobe Wheelhouse '32, Fabio Vignaroli '35 WP - nil
Finally, in Perth, the Glory accounted for Sydney FC who were leading the league heading into round 15.
Scott Bulloch and Branko Jelic did the damage for the Glory who got their season back on track after taking a single point in their previous four outings whilst the Sky Blues surrendered their hold on the top spot on the table.
Perth Glory: 2 (Scott Bulloch '57, Branko Jelic '88) Sydney FC: 0 Venue: Members Equity Stadium Crowd: 8,932 Yellow cards:PER - Victor Sikora '69 SYD - Seb Ryall '47, Simon Colosimo '66
A-League Table after Round 15
Melbourne Victory27 (points) Sydney FC 25Gold Coast United24 Central Coast 23Perth Glory21Wellington Phoenix20Adelaide United17Brisbane Roar16Newcastle Jets16 North Queensland 15
