The 2013-14 A-League campaign comes down to the grand final we had to have. No disrespect to the rest of the competition, but a Roar versus Wanderers decider is an absolutely mouth-watering prospect.

First things first – should that have been a penalty for Brisbane Roar skipper Matt Smith’s challenge on Victory captain Mark Milligan at Suncorp Stadium?

To the naked eye it looked like Smith made contact with Milligan, and the Socceroos midfielder made certain referee Strebre Delovski saw him go down inside the box. But was it enough contact to warrant a penalty? Or did Milligan overplay his hand with a dramatic tumble to the ground?

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History will show that Delovski did not blow for a penalty – nor did he fall for Archie Thompson’s comical con-job seconds later – but just how lucky were the Roar to survive that late Victory onslaught?

Matty McKay was Johnny-on-the-spot to clear Thompson’s goal-bound effort seconds later, while goalkeeper Michael Theo then pulled off a couple of outstanding stops – including a point-blank save from a thunderous James Troisi drive.

It was thrilling, nails-to-the-quick football and proved once again why the finals are an integral part of A-League football.

Speaking of integral, which goalkeeper would you prefer to have in your team: Theo or Nathan Coe? Because for all his undoubted talent, Coe was dreadfully exposed for the only goal of the game, which came from one of the few times Brisbane employed a direct route to goal.

Victory will feel dreadfully hard done by, but at the end of the day Roar goalkeeper Theo kept his side in the match while his visiting counterpart did not.

There were no such issues in Saturday’s fixture, with Ante Covic solid as a rock in Western Sydney’s 2-0 win over defending champions Central Coast Mariners.



The visitors turned in a stoic performance, but no doubt their midweek AFC trip to Japan took plenty out of them, and in the end a classy Wanderers side proved too strong for one which has changed vastly from the team that ran out in last season’s decider.

Youssouf Hersi’s opener was slightly fortunate, while Iacopo La Rocca’s second-half effort bore all the hallmarks of Western Sydney’s brutally effective counter-attacking football – a style they’ll no doubt hope bears fruit at Suncorp Stadium next Sunday.

For all the conjecture about whether the A-League should employ a finals series or not, surely the sight of a jam-packed Pirtek Stadium and a similarly impressive attendance at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday should put that debate to rest. Australians love sudden-death sporting events – or at least, the silent majority of fans do.

The finals help replenish Football Federation Australia’s coffers and draw plenty of casual fans through the gates. There’ll be almost 50,000 fans wearing Brisbane Roar jerseys next weekend, coupled with a sizeable contingent of travelling Wanderers fans, and it’s hard to see how that’s anything but a positive for football in this country.

It’s also hard not to think that watching the premiership winners take on the league’s second-place finishers marks anything but a fitting finale for what was another absorbing A-League campaign.

There may be a question mark over their semi-final win, but there can be no doubt that the Roar were far and away the best team in the competition this season. Nevertheless, Tony Popovic’s battle-hardened Wanderers simply refuse to give in. Could the visitors be an outside chance of claiming an improbable A-League title?

What is certain is that the 2013-14 A-League decider is the grand final we had to have.

It wasn’t always champagne football, but the season will finish with a bang in one of the most anticipated deciders in recent memory.

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