Brisbane steals the show

There's no shortage of people willing to tell you they'd never live in Brisbane. The perceived backwardness of the city inspired a brilliant but somewhat disillusioned music scene, detailed by Andrew Stafford in his book Pig City, and films such as All My Friends are Leaving Brisbane. Indeed, the current premier, Campbell Newman, may be taking a leaf out of Joh Bjelke-Petersen’s book in his attempt to put the kibosh on the Queensland arts scene, but in the absence of sane politicians and culture, on Friday Brisbane was at least treated to several hours of terrific sport. In the afternoon, a sold-out Gabba hosted the nation’s re-engagement with the Australian cricket team, while in the evening the A-League’s two best teams played out an exciting four-goal clash at Suncorp Stadium on the other side of the Brisbane River.

Last season it was at this ground and between these two teams that the Western Sydney Wanderers scored their first goal and first ever win. The Wanderers went on to lose just five matches over the next six months. A little over a year since, Brisbane were finally able to enact their revenge with an emphatic 3-1 victory. As Brisbane striker Besart Berisha admitted post-match, “last season we lost every game [against the Wanderers], and this is still in the mind”. Berisha, of course, does not take to losing well. Some might say he is madder than an oppressed Queensland bikie, but Berisha is still the most feared striker in the A-League. After spending the past month sulking in the stands with a hamstring injury, Berisha signalled his return by flashing a shot just wide of the Wanderers goal in the first minute. Moments later, he angrily wrestled past Mateo Poljak, cheekily nutmegged Nikolai Topor-Stanley and took two goes to squeeze the ball past defender Matthew Spiranovic and goalkeeper Ante Covic to score a tremendous solo goal. Tony Popovic said his side could learn “a big lesson” from the opening 20 minutes of Friday night’s clash. Perhaps more than anything, it was a lesson in how to take your chances. Besart Berisha is back.

Ten men? No worries

If football is a funny game, this weekend Wellington Phoenix and Adelaide United were the butt of the joke after both sides failed to capitalise on their numerical advantage against Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory respectively. In the early Saturday evening game, Sydney FC lost full-back Pedj Bojic on 73 minutes, but for the second time in three weeks, they managed to win with 10 men. More impressive, however, was Melbourne Victory’s demolition of Adelaide United in the following match. In a controversial Beyond the Fringe sketch from The Aftermyth of War, Peter Cook’s character, who is an Army Officer, uses a football analogy to encourage a soldier, Perkins, to go on a suicide mission. “You know how in a game of football 10 men often play better than 11?” asks the officer, to which the soldier replies “yessir”. “Perkins, we’re asking you to be that one man,” continues the officer, “we need you to lay down your life.” In this instance, Adrian Leijer played the role of Perkins superbly in the first half as he was sent off for two bookable offences in the space of 10 minutes. Yet for all Adelaide United’s second half possession against 10 men, Victory were well organised in defence and ruthless on the counter attack, scoring two goals to send Josep Gombau’s Red Army packing. Known more for his brawn than his brain during his playing career, who knew Kevin Muscat took coaching tips from English comedy revues?

Pressure rises for Josep Gombau and John Aloisi

For all of Victory’s Beyond the Fringe-inspired tactics, Adelaide United’s defence was a comedy of a different sort – more slapstick than cerebral. Saturday night’s defeat was their fourth of the season, but this would have been the one to hurt the most. Adelaide fans love nothing more than to beat Victory, and had Sergio Cirio converted his penalty on 65 minutes, it might have been a poignant moment of self-actualisation for Gombau’s struggling side. While the players seem to have faith in him and have dutifully tried to implement his desired style of play, the club’s long-suffering fans and the media will question how he plans to turn possession into penetration and points. Gombau is defiant to his critics, refusing to change the way he approaches the game and talking more about any positives that he can find. For now at least, he will continue to seek shelter in his philosophy, and explain away losses with an almost teleological view of the season.

But if the Adelaide United board are getting impatient, of more urgent concern is how long Aloisi will last at Melbourne Heart, who haven’t won since February. The trials and tribulations of the Heart have been well documented, and the board’s decision to appoint Aloisi ahead of a proven coach in Ante Milicic looks sillier with every passing week. However, as Frank Farina and Gary van Egmond can attest, a few wins in a competition as small as the A-League can quickly turn the tide of opinion. Adelaide will once again be in Melbourne for their match against the Heart next Sunday, and with such pressure, both teams will be desperate for a result. It would be hilarious if it ended as a scoreless draw.

Saturday night fever

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Sydney fans have a new hero in Ranko Despotovic. Photograph: Steve Christo/Steve Christo Photography/Corbis

If Friday night was a good advertisement for the tentative A-League dabblers tuning in on free-to-air television, Saturday night was a reward for the true believers. A Saturday night triple-header is inevitably billed as a great night in, but the touch-and-go standard of the competition can soon lead to even the most loyal of A-League devotees wishing they had gone to that friend-of-a-friend’s birthday drinks, taken their significant other out to the new Japanese-tapas-fusion restaurant down the road, or spent the weekend interpretive dancing at a bush-doof. A truly manic game in Melbourne – where Muscat’s spray at the referees and his own players assured us all that the extra responsibility of coaching has not mellowed him – was wedged between two thrilling finishes in Sydney and Perth. Sydney FC have an obscure new hero in Ranko Despotovic, who joins the ranks of Juho Makela to score in front of The Cove on debut, while the Central Coast Mariners’ fly-in, fly-out job in Perth left Phil Moss with a win in his first match as head coach. Thankfully, this was a Saturday night triple-header worthy of the temporary neglect of your social life.

Taggart on target

In a round full of action, the wonder-goals were spread right across the weekend. On Friday night we were treated to another injury-time Kwame Yeboah thunderbolt, followed by a backflip which looked to be a tad mistimed. As Woody from Toy Story might say, “that wasn’t a backflip, that was falling with style!” Post-match Mike Mulvey commented that Yeboah is “a young man on a journey”, but hosed down talk of starting him alongside Berisha. If Berisha keeps scoring, Yeboah might just become the best substitute in the competition. On Saturday evening, Richard Garcia shrugged off the after-effects of a ‘Ben Sigmund special’ in the first half to crash home a similarly spectacular goal. Just moments earlier he was struggling to simply trap the ball, but all was quickly forgotten after such a strike. Not to be outdone, Adam Taggart proceeded to run riot against Melbourne Heart, scoring three goals from outside the box on Sunday afternoon. His opener was a delightful trap-and-drive that rocketed straight over the keeper’s head into the roof of the net, his second buried deep in the bottom right hand corner. Just to make things interesting, he then gave away a free kick from which Melbourne Heart scored, before casually adding another from distance, this time in the bottom left hand corner of the net. Of course, Taggart’s hat-trick comes just seven days after his double against Brisbane Roar, which gives him the ridiculous statistic of having scored all of Newcastle Jets’ last six goals. He is, as the punters say, taking the piss.