Brisbane Roar extended their lead on the rest of the A-League to six points when they demolished the Central Coast Mariners yesterday.
The Roar skipped away to a three-goal lead before the 25th minute mark thanks to two goals from Jean Carlos Solorzano and one from Mitch Nichols. The fourth-placed Mariners hit back early in the second half but Reinaldo's late goal and an own goal from Alex Wilkinson guided Ange Postecoglou's men to a 5-1 win and in the process create a new A-League record for 14 matches without a loss.
The Roar are now two wins clear of second-placed Adelaide United who defeated third-placed Gold Coast United 2-1 on Friday night although the Reds have two games in hand on the Roar.
In other A-League Week 16 matches, Wellington Phoenix scored a late goal through Paul Ifill to force a 2-2 draw with Melbourne Victory at Westpac Stadium. Victory's Archie Thompson became the first player in the A-League's short history to score 50 goals when he leveled the score at 1-1 in the 20th minute after Tim Brown put the Phoenix ahead.
Melbourne Heart hosted Sydney FC in wet conditions at AAMI Park and could only come up with a 0-0 draw whilst North Queensland Fury struggled to a 1-1 draw with Perth Glory who had two players sent off early in the second term.
The Fury remain at the foot of the table, three points in arrears of Sydney with Perth and the Newcastle Jets, who took on and beat the LA Galaxy, just above them. On top of them are the Phoenix in 7th, the Victory 6th and the Heart in 5th.
Adelaide United:2 (Paul REID 10', Travis DODD 48') Gold Coast United: 1 (Bas VAN DEN BRINK 45'+2) Friday, 26 November 2010 Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide Local kick-off: 7:30pm (8.00pm AEDT) Referee: Peter Green Crowd: 12,005 Yellow cards:AU - nil GCU - James BROWN 16'/61', Bruce DJITE 27', Dino DJULBIC 73' Red card:GCU - James BROWN 61'
Wellington Phoenix: 2 (Tim BROWN 17', Paul IFILL 84') Melbourne Victory: 2 (Archie THOMPSON 20', Robbie KRUSE 40') Saturday, 27 November 2010 Westpac Stadium, Wellington Local kick-off: 6:00pm (4.00pm AEDT) Referee: Peter O'Leary Crowd: 6,475 Yellow cards:WP - Manny MUSCAT 62' MV - Adrian LEIJER 24', Marvin ANGULO 73', Diogo FERREIRA 89'
Melbourne Heart: 0 Sydney FC: 0 Saturday, 27 November 2010 AAMI Park, Melbourne Local kick-off: 8:15pm Referee: Alan Milliner Crowd: 5,128 Yellow cards:MH - Simon COLOSIMO 17', Aziz BEHICH 34', Wayne SRHOJ 38', Michael MARRONE 70', Nicholas KALMAR 79' SYD - Stuart MUSIALIK 27', Mark BRIDGE 47', Sung-Hwan BYUN 90'+1/90'+3 Red card:SYD - Sung-Hwan BYUN 90'+3
Central Coast Mariners: 1 (Adam KWASNIK 50') Brisbane Roar:5 (Jean Carlos SOLORZANO 8'/10', Mitchell NICHOLS 24, REINALDO 87', Alex WILKINSON 89' (og)) Sunday, 28 November 2010 Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford Local kick-off: 4:00pm Referee: Ryan Shepheard Crowd: 5,858 Yellow cards:CCM - Daniel McBREEN 54'/90'+2, Alex WILKINSON 74' BR - Michael THEOKLITOS 50', Ivan FRANJIC 61', Thomas BROICH 65' Red card:CCM - Daniel McBREEN 90'+2
North QLD Fury: 1 (Mark HUGHES 80') Perth Glory: 1 (Robbie FOWLER 23') Sunday, 28 November 2010 Dairy Farmers Stadium, Townsville Local kick-off: 5:00pm (6.00pm AEDT) Referee: Kris Griffiths-Jones Crowd: 4,466 Yellow cards:NQF - David WILLIAMS 30', Ufuk TALAY 78' PG - Mile STERJOVSKI 7', Naum SEKULOVSKI 38'/50', Brent GRIFFTHS 58'/63', Tando VELAPHI 89' Red cards:PG - Naum SEKULOVSKI 50', Brent GRIFFTHS 63'
