The Central Coast Mariners are sitting pretty following their 2-0 strangulation of the Newcastle Jets last week in the F3 derby. If Daniel McBreen was a cricket player you'd say he was seeing them like beach balls. McBreen has hit 9 goals for the season with just over a quarter of the season gone meaning that the 21 goals in a season record held by Berisha will come under threat. To complement the attack the Mariners have several of the best defenders in the league. Pedj Bojic and Josh Rose work tirelessly all game long to put opposition wingers and fullbacks under threat and their central defensive pairing is is composed at all times. Tom Rogic and Mat Ryan are coming back into the squad and both will be better for their EAFF Cup experience.

Melbourne Heart snatched all three points from under the noses of Perth Glory with the 1-0 win at AAMI Park last Saturday. After a dreadful game in front of a tiny 4,500 crowd, Heart ripped apart the Glory defence on the counter in the 88th minute, with Gol Gol Mebrahtu scoring his first ever senior goal. The win will give them confidence, and has put them back in top 6 contention. Heart have Richard Garcia, Aziz Behich and Michael Marrone from their EAFF duties, although Behich may not make the starting line-up due to the large amount of game-time he received during the tournament. Heart are too inconsistent all over the pitch. Their defense is leaky, their midfield is neither dominant enough to control a match or organised enough to work very effectively on the counter and in the attack they struggle to put multiple goals past their opponents. The Mariners should be unbackable favourites, and even a draw would be a huge upset in this match.

Prediction: 3-0 Central Coast.

This fixture is on paper the least interesting match of the round. A very late Friday night time-slot, the thuggery of Perth mixed with the mid-table inconsistency of Newcastle isn't a recipe for champagne football. Perth Glory are coming off their very late loss to Melbourne Heart, plummeting down the table to the depths of 8th position in a season many predicted would hold a top-two finish. Michael Thwaite and Scott Jamieson are back from EAFF duty to help their defensive frailty, but forward hit man Shane Smeltz only has one goal this season. To put that into perspective, that's as many as Ruben Zadkovich and Rhyan Grant. It just simply isn't good enough. Another loss will heap yet more pressure on Glory coach Ferguson who is reportedly losing the backing of owner Tony Sage due to this season's failure.

Newcastle Jets haven't won since the 6th round of the competition, and the Heskey goal machine needs a tune-up. He hasn't scored since round 6 against the Wanderers and even that goal was scrappy. The Jets were comprehensively outplayed, out-thought and out-enthused by a superior Mariners outfit and the club may be in financial turmoil due to owner Nathan Tinkler's inability to pay the bills. Adam Taggart is back from his inexplicable call-up to the EAFF squad, as laughable as it seems, despite playing and scoring two goals on international duty he might not make the match-day squad at all for this one. Ryan Griffiths is back from his suspension. This fixture has 0-0 draw written all over it. Neither team has an in-form attack and both should be feeling the pressure. But of course with the likes of Smeltz and Heskey playing they might feel favourites to break their respective droughts against out of form defenders.

Prediction: Jacob Burns to get a yellow between the 35th and 45th minutes. 0-0 Draw.

This match is being billed as 'revenge' for the Round 2 5-0 demolition of the Victory by the Rado led Roar at Suncorp. How the tables have turned. Since that match Melbourne have won 5 games, drawn 1 and lost 2. The 2nd loss came in a 2-4 defeat by bitter rivals Adelaide in the round 10. Ange Postecoglou confessed his tactical choices had failed in that match. It wasn't the only thing to fail as well, his defence was slipshod, Marcos Flores gave up on the match and requested to be replaced. The manner of the loss will haunt the players and at home they will be itching to make up both for the early season loss and for their performance, or lack thereof in the previous match. Marcos Rojas looms large once again as a key player for the Victory,and Flores will pose his typical danger.

Since that 5-0 victory the Roar have gone backward. They drew the next match, and since then have lost 5 games, beating only Sydney FC and Newcastle. They lost for a second time this season to the Wanderers. Their effort was poor throughout the match, only decided to play with full purpose and energy after going behind. This extended to the manager on the bench as well, as Rado Vidosic appeared to be happy with a point, only throwing on his last two substitutions once the Roar went behind. Broich was under-par and Berisha suffered through lack of service, dropping incredibly deep to receive the ball to try and make something happen. Another loss for Rado and the dreaded "full support of the board" could come out over the next week. Berisha and Broich are two players that cannot be casually dismissed even with lack of form and service, but the Roar seem to be at their lowest ebb since the Ange initiated clean-out several years ago. Ange will want to return all 5 goals and then some.

Prediction: 6-0 Victory.

The big one. The Sydney Derby 2: Electric Derbyloo. This is the match of the round. Sydney FC lifted themselves from outright last to only last on goal difference with their 2-1 win over an insipid Wellington Phoenix team across the ditch in the previous round. Without Del Piero. It was their first win since Round 4. Despite winning Sydney did need the help of the officials, as McFlynn was red-carded for a second yellow card for a handball that should have resulted in a penalty and not just a free kick. At worst Sydney deserved at least a point and the 3 points wasn't a massive injustice. Del Piero could be fit, he might not be, the Sydney FC coaching staff are saying he will be given every opportunity to prove his fitness but it could just as easily be a ploy to increase ticket sales as it could be a ploy to outfox the Wanderers staff by making them plan around having to contain Del Piero. They may welcome Joel 'Sackwack' Griffiths who has allegedly signed a contract but has yet to be unveiled.

The Wanderers are coming off the high of defeating Brisbane Roar 1-0 at home. It pushed Western Sydney up into 4th position, albeit only 3 points from last position due to the tightness of the ladder outside the top 2. Dino Kresinger came on and changed the game, winning a penalty from Matt Jurman who hauled the big striker down in the box. Shinji Ono converted the spot kick to secure the three points. The defence was again stoic, although it did need help from the posts. The Wanderers finishing has been their Achilles heel the entire season so far, the club have yet to score more than a single goal in a match (excluding the Melbourne Heart own-goal) and have been kept scoreless on 5 occasions. Tony Popovic has said the players were overawed by the occasions in the first match and has been directing them to avoid the same situation. Aaron Mooy returns from National Team duty, where he scored several magnificent free kicks. Hopefully for the Wanderers he can put a few on target in this match. This is a match that could shift the balance of power in Sydney in a decisive fashion one way or the other. Despite being 4th v 10th all signs point to this being a very tight affair that might be decided by a single goal. I hope that it is for the Wanderers.

Prediction: 1-0 Wanderers.

Adelaide as I predicted finally got their team working in full harmony, and it resulted in a 4-2 rout of the Victory at home last Friday night. They have goals all over the park, and with Eugene Galekovic coming back from his EAFF duties their defence will surely improve again. They have the typical Kosmina self-belief instilled in their play, have game-winners across the pitch, from Galekovic all the way to Neumann or even Djite up-front. Tactically Kosmina hasn't had a huge amount to do with his substitutions but his squad know his formation and instructions to heart.

Wellington have blamed poor football on their recent low crowds, and Ricki Herbert oversees a team sitting smack bang in the mid-table. Their 6th place is consistent with a side who are inconsistent in their results. 3 draws, 3 wins, 4 losses. Their performance in that match was terrible and they must do better or risk alienating even more fans. They do have the players on the pitch to make a game of this one, but Adelaide should be too strong across the park. Wellington will do exceptionally well to even pick up a draw. One note is that the Phoenix may take some inspiration from their round 4 loss in Adelaide, after several questionable officiating decisions including a clear dive by Jeronimo Neumann that was not called.

Prediction: 3-1 Adelaide.