Neither team were happy with the officials after this controversial 1-1 draw in Adelaide. After only 7 minutes a smart leave by an offside United player allowed Vidosic the chance to strike from the corner of the box, he screwed it well wide. Newcastle went right up the other end and the first of the controversial moments occurred. A long ball saw Adelaide break into the backfield, with Eugene Galekovic running too far out of his goal he was lobbed and couldn't get enough of the ball to prevent it from going over his head, the keeper was saved by a very tight offside call. Minutes before half-time Galekovic was involved in a howler of an error, when he was put under pressure by a poor throw-in that forced the keeper to grab the ball with his hands. The resulting indirect free kick was level with the penalty spot and in front, Newcastle blasted the ball to the back post, it took a deflection from Michael Bridges and dribbled over the line.

Adelaide came out much better in the second half, Newcastle standing off and they were punished. Marcelo Carrusca strode all the way from the right flank into the middle of the pitch, and from some distance out he curled the ball around Mark Birighitti. Unfortunately for Adelaide he went off with a quarter of an hour to play due to a groin injury. The game began as it started with controversy, deep into injury time a nice Adelaide United team move ended with Cassio chipping the ball into the centre, Jeronimo and two Newcastle defenders coming together and managing only to flick the ball on to the back stick, Vidosic smashed the ball past Birighitti only to see the referee consult with his linesman before disallowing the goal. The ruling eventually filtered through that Jeronimo had been adjudged to be offside and to have interfered with the play, but it was very dubious. The point secured Adelaide a home final but leaves Newcastle's finals hopes clinging by a thread.

A full report is listed here.

A brace from Labinot Haliti & a match sealer to Iacopo La Rocca has brought the Western Sydney Wanderers to the brink of their maiden A-League Premiership in a 3-1 win over Melbourne Heart. In the first of a number of unsavoury incidents involving the Melbourne Heart supporters, one of their number shined a laser at Ante Covic as he tried to line up his wall. Luckily for Covic the shot was aimed directly in the middle of the goal, no problem for the keeper. After 20 minutes Aaron Mooy, who was playing as the central attacking midfielder in the absence of Shinji Ono, turned his marker and unleashed from the edge of the area but like Mehbratu before him could only find the opposition keeper. 7 had passed when Mooy used his skill to create the opening goal of the match. Mooy's strong work in the box in gathering a blocked cut-back allowed him to find Haliti along the floor. Haliti had made space for himself by backing away from the Heart defensive line, his first-time shot on the left foot beating Andrew Redmayne, smacking the far post and rebounding to bulge the net to the delight of Haliti who made his way to celebrate in front of the several hundred travelling supporters.

When only 6 minutes remained in the first half Melbourne Heart struck back. The most dangerous Heart player Mehbratu was fed by Fred and was encouraged to shoot by the 6,000 or so home supporters. Beauchamp, Poljak & La Rocca all failed to close down quickly enough, the three Wanderers failing to converge in time as he let fly with his right foot. It cracked off boot, a pile driver from at least 25 meters out, swerving away from the outstretched Covic, whistling past his hands like a gunshot. The Wanderers second came when La Rocca had stepped up from his usual defensive midfield position to threaten on goal. Haliti drifted between defenders, Simon Colosimo looked to shut down La Rocca but the Italian knocked the ball through into the path of Haliti who swept the ball over the head of Redmayne to put the Wanderers back in front. The game was done as a contest when a Jason Trifiro cross was cleared only as far as Poljak, who noticed that La Rocca was free on the other flank. His looping cross found it's target, as the Heart defense claimed in vain for what would have been an incorrect offside call, La Rocca calmly brought the ball down with a brilliant first touch to put the ball in front of him, followed by a pin-point accurate bending shot that curved around the stranded Redmayne.

Another game where Sydney FC picked up a point due to the incompetence of their opponents. A hilarious start to the game as Sydney FC's discipline faltered yet again, this time goalkeeper Vedran Janjetovic not making his way to the stadium in time for the match, being dropped to the bench in favour of Ivan Necevski. Three minutes into the "Big Blue" Melbourne Victory were in front. Connor Pain ran onto an Archie Thompson through ball, the youngster hitting it first time across the face of goal for Mark Milligan who flicked it past the stand in keeper. Del Piero had a poor night, with several off target free kicks in the first half. Seb Ryall miraculously escaped a second yellow card for a reckless and vicious foul on Connor Pain.

Archie Thompson was playing as the creative force in this match, and he created a golden chance for Rojas, a scything delayed through ball for Rojas who could only manage to hit Necevski when he had the entire goal to aim at. Sydney then got very lucky, a penalty given on the hour mark for a clearly unavoidable hand-ball. Del Piero stepped up like he has done all season but his shot was weak and turned around the post by Nathan Coe. Melbourne Victory had a host of gilt-edged chances, Rojas, Thompson and Pain all slicing through to be one on one with Necevski but they could not convert. It came back to haunt the visitors 5 minutes from time when a corner was flicked on at the near post by Rhyan Grant, it found Yairo Yau unmarked and he couldn't miss from point blank range.

Central Coast came into this match needing to win to keep the Premiership race alive. With the Western Sydney Wanderers hoping for a Roar win or a draw, they were heartened by the start for the visiting Roar. Franjic had the best chance from their early dominance, a corner drilled low to the edge of the penalty area but the chance was blazed over. Unfortunately for both the Roar and Wanderers, it was the Mariners who turned the game. Michael McGlinchey hitting a volley after a long throw was flicked onto him, only for Theo in goal for Brisbane to palm it over the bar. After half an hour Brisbane finally cracked. Unable to clear the ball from their feet, the ball was tapped through to Ibini who looked to be coming from an offside position, it wasn't called and he turned inside onto his left and struck the ball well, Theo making the cardinal sin of keeping in not protecting the near post and his team went behind. The last 10 minutes of the half saw Central Coast make and waste several good chances to double their lead.

The second half continued in the same manner, Central Coast well on top. McGlinchey was deep into the penalty area when he made a hash from a McBreen cross. The Roar took the ball from that miss played it through the middle with a pass that put Stefan Nijland clean through on goal. With the opposition central defence not having the pace to catch up, he lined up the one on one shot, hit it across the Mat Ryan and the midfielder saw his shot saved, Berisha unable to turn in the rebound. Nijland nearly made up for his miss with a very long range free kick that hit the post. Deep into injury time Brisbane had one last chance with a free kick that they dinked into the box, it fell to a Roar player but his stabbing toe poke went high, to win keeping the Mariner's premiership dream still alive and forcing Western Sydney to gain at least two points from their last two matches.

Perth Glory's finals charge was halted with a huge shock home defeat against Wellington. A win would have seen them in 5th with only two games to play. With 30 minutes passing as each team felt the other out, Perth were denied by a brilliant save from Glen Moss against Matias Cordoba from close range. Wellington broke down the right flank through Jeremy Brockie, who shot from a tight angle, it rebounded into the path of Paul Ifill who made no mistake by placing his shot for the opening goal. Moss kept his side in front with two more superb saves.

Perth pushed hard after half-time, but were unable to make an impact on the match. It was Wellington who scored the second goal, Stein Huysegems getting onto the end of a Brockie cross, without much of a leap the Belgian nonchalantly placing his header into the bottom corner. Ifill was then denied a potential goal of the week when his curling effort was saved by the fingertips of Danny Vukovic. Perth then turned in their own header, the unlikely source being Ryo Nagai, giving them a sniff of a comeback with 15 minutes on the clock, but Perth couldn't get the job done. The losing Grand Finalists from last year will need a minor miracle to make the finals this season.

This leaves the ladder after Round 25 at:[/center]

1. Western Sydney Wanderers - 53 Points, +17 GD.
   
2. Central Coast – 48 Points, +23 GD.
   
3. Melbourne Victory - 41 Points, +3 GD.
   
4. Adelaide United – 40 Points, +3 GD.
   
5. Sydney FC - 31 Points, -8 GD.
   
6. Newcastle Jets - 31 Points, -12 GD.
   
7. Brisbane Roar - 29 Points, 0 GD.
   
8. Perth Glory – 28 Points, -3 GD.
   
9. Melbourne Heart - 27 Points, -6 GD.
   
10. Wellington Phoenix - 27 Points, -17 GD.
    

Two rounds remain. Wellington & Newcastle have played one more match and thus only have one game left to play.