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Sunday 8 April 2012

After the belter in the West bring on the El Classico in Gosford

It wasn't pretty football in the West but it was a belter of a game. Perth v Wellington. And arguably two of my least favourite football teams are playing much better football than years gone by.

But it's not Swansea is it.

Great to see my most hated Coach ex-Ger Iain Ferguson using brain and craft to play full-back Scott Neville in a switch for my man of the match Billy Mehmet. Who'd have tried such a thing?

And Neville won the game with composure and touch in the area where it most matters. The opposition box.

Ben Sigmund went off and Wellington seemed to come undone defensively. Even at 1-0 there was only one team playing football but Perth kept going and with a vocal crowd behind them they roared home in extra time. Great game.

But now I can settle in to see teams that are so much more than their individual parts. No Shane Smeltz or Paul Ifill here.

But in Broich, Berisha and Rogic, McGlinchey, Amini and Ibini their is more than enough talent to enjoy.

But it's the game style that will be beaut.

In Perth the ball was belted hell and high, so often. The Roar and Mariners are playing a higher brand of football these days. Even their keepers have to play.

The Mariners are 2-0 down from the first leg. In Australia that scorelines counts for nothing. Iran had around 20 minutes to wipe it out in 1997 and that against 95,000 Aussies.

The Mariners need the first goal to change the game and then it will really be game on.

This one is nicely poised. Brisbane should be able to score one, in which case the Mariners will need four!

Can the Mariners keep Brisbane scoreless?

Surely not.

1 comment:

Hamish Alcorn said...

I love it that you called it the 'El Classico'. And indeed, the games between Roar and CCM have turned out to be the most consistently good games, at least for the past couple seasons.

Hope you enjoyed it. As you can imagine I am on top of the world!