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  • Youthful Exuberance Can't Avoid Defeat

    mack

    By mack

    The bottom of the table contest between the Wanderers & Newcastle ended with Newcastle taking all three points in a scrappy but hard fought face.

     

    Having just returned from their 0-0 draw in Korea and with another mid-week away fixture in Brisbane to come, manager Tony Popovic elected to send out one of the youngest starting lineups in A-League history. Daniel Alessi, Jonathan Aspropotamitis, Yianni Perkatis, Jaushua Sotirio, Alusine Fofanah & Steve Kuzmanovski all starting alongside Ante Covic, Iacopo La Rocca, Sam Gallaway, Jason Trifiro & Nick Kalmar.

     

    Perkatis stepped up to provide the opening chance of the game for Sotirio. Perkatis latched onto a misplaced pass by Kantarovski, then launched a defence splitting through ball that put Sotirio clear through on goal, but his first touch took him wide and allowed Daniel Mullen to making a diving block that saw the ball deflect off the ex-Wanderers defender and hit the side netting.

     

    Newcastle took the lead in the 21st minute, taking advantage of a horrendous goalkeeping error from Ante Covic. Edson Montano played in Enver Alivodic on the edge of the box. Ante Covic came flying out of his area and completely missed both the ball and man, giving Alivodic a saloon passage to take a composed touch before firing into the unguarded goal.

     

    What made headlines around the world wasn't the eventual result, but a moment in the 31st minute with one of the most ludicrous offside decisions ever made in Australia, rivalling the "offside from a throw in" in a match between Brisbane & Melbourne Heart several years ago. Daniel Alessi was beaten for pace by Hoole, who delivered a cross that neither Covic or Aspropotamitis could clear. It bounced through the central defender to Montato for a tap-in, only for Sarah Ho running the lines to inexplicably raise the flag for offside. Montato was not just behind three Wanderers players (La Rocca, Covic & Aspropotamitis) but he was behind the ball player!

     

    Just before half-time another error from Covic let Ki-Je Lee double the Jets advantage. A nicely worked overlapping run from Lee saw Gallaway up against two attackers, and when Andrew Hoole eventually released the Korean he arced in on goal then blasted a shot that had Covic committing the cardinal sin of goalkeeping, allowing himself to be beaten at his near post.

     

    5 minutes after the break Nick Kalmar pulled a goal back for Western Sydney, converting a free kick over the wall and leaving Ben Kennedy standing on his heels with no chance of a save. He had another free kick chance from an almost identical position but this time he only found the side netting. Newcastle killed the game in the last 5 minutes very effectively, closing out the game with the Wanderers not having any real clear cut chances to score an equaliser.

     

    The Wanderers are now back on the bottom of the A-League ladder and have been mathematically eliminated from the finals race. With 6 games to play the club are 19 points behind Melbourne City, and winning all 6 matches would see the Asian Champions reach 29 points.

     

    The Wanderers next match is against Brisbane Roar, on Wednesday March 25th, in Brisbane.

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    Guest redwhiteblack

    Guest redwhiteblack

    Posted

     

     

    As much as we would like to think they take notice, I don't think the FFA give a f*ck.

     

    2 A league teams compete in the ACL each season, our schedule would've been no different had we not competed in the CWC, which was a huge anomaly.

     

    If anyone is expecting any compensation, or even am apology, from the FFA, don't hold your breath.

    I think the FFA gave us no chance of winning the ACL when the original fixtures came out lol They certainly didn't notice that the first game back after the CWC would be a trip to NZ and then Perth! That is as bad a post ACL combination as we could possibly have been thrown.

    The FFA would be playing huge favourites with us if they put other teams out of their way to ensure we had a 'comfortable' schedule.

     

    Let's assume the FFA rescheduled the Wellington and Perth games so that they were played at home, or if not, away, but at a later date. This now puts those two teams on a separate playing field, and their players might not be getting adequate recovery/rest, and will ask to have their next match against 'insert team' played at home, or delayed too. The knock on effect would mean basically every team is affected just so the FFA could play favourites with us.

     

    We copped the rough end of the stick and got unlucky, but I would rather cop that and be ASIAN CHAMPIONS than anything else.

    Link to comment
    pushiepedlar

    Another comment i forgot to add was...

     

    HOW GOOD IS WANDER AND KICK!!!! :woah:  :grouphug:

     

    Though walking around on that field just highlighted what a **** job they have done relaying it. Did they even level off the soil before putting the turf down? There are ditches and divots all over the place. My four year old son could have done a better job getting it level with his Tonka toys. 

    Link to comment
    102megan

    I LOVE Wander and Kick!! :meep:  :meep:

     

     

     

    I must say props to how CCM ran their version of Wander & Kick  -  being able to enter the ground, with a gold coin donation going to charity (the charity was not CCM, before any of you smartarses jump in there!)  -  and the players hung around on the ground, while the fans were on the ground too, for a good while!

     

    Twitter was full of pics from it - I was impressed.

    Link to comment
    AEK

    I LOVE Wander and Kick!! :meep:  :meep:

     

     

     

    I must say props to how CCM ran their version of Wander & Kick  -  being able to enter the ground, with a gold coin donation going to charity (the charity was not CCM, before any of you smartarses jump in there!)  -  and the players hung around on the ground, while the fans were on the ground too, for a good while!

     

    Twitter was full of pics from it - I was impressed.

     

     

    there is a difference between having 20 people on a field like Central Coast and having a million feral kids running on a pitch that has claimed 3+ victims so far....

    Link to comment
    102megan

     

    I LOVE Wander and Kick!! :meep:  :meep:

     

     

     

    I must say props to how CCM ran their version of Wander & Kick  -  being able to enter the ground, with a gold coin donation going to charity (the charity was not CCM, before any of you smartarses jump in there!)  -  and the players hung around on the ground, while the fans were on the ground too, for a good while!

     

    Twitter was full of pics from it - I was impressed.

     

     

    there is a difference between having 20 people on a field like Central Coast and having a million feral kids running on a pitch that has claimed 3+ victims so far....

     

    Tbf the kids would've been feral @ Central Coast as well as Western Sydney. :xnod:  :xnod:

    Link to comment
    Smoggy

    Forget whether she is male or female. It was ******* woeful!!

     

    Yeah, every one makes mistakes but that was a howler lol She isn't going to want a mistake that big again any time soon!

    Link to comment
    stewballs

    Alessi got hooked cause he was being played off the park & made to look pedestrian.

    Hoole was treating him with contempt & unless Daniel works on his speed, he doesn't have a future in this game.

    I've seen plenty of him, including some rather common performances at CB in recent games at NYL level.

    He just hasn't lived up to the early promise he displayed on his HAL debut, when marking a certain 38yo Italian.

    IMHO, Shane Da Cunha is a far better prospect at either RB or CB

    imo Alessi is in that stage of growth where he hasn't grown into his body yet. He has increased bulk since last season and his speed and strength have not yet caught up. This is why he looks really slow. He may never regain speed to the level required but its too early to write off a 17yr old just yet. Time will tell.

     

    As for Shane he is actually one of the NYL players who played NPL1 1st grade all year and won nearly everything with Blacktown City. He is being played out of position by Trev in NYL side. Aspro has show to be the heir apparent for the #4 stopper slot but Shane will get stronger soon

    Link to comment
    matty

     

     

    Yeah, that YouTube video's subject title can f*ck right off.

     

    Unimpressed.

    Yeah, it should say 'woman'.

     

     

     

     

    jokes

    Yeah something like "women referees aren't good enough in the men's game and should stay in the kitchen and make me pie" would have been more appropriate.

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