A-League Round 7 (18/9 to 20/9)

Adelaide United v Melbourne Victory
Central Coast v Gold Coast United
Wellington v North Queensland
Sydney FC v Newcastle Jets


In Round 6, the Australian football public witnessed one of the goals of the season when Robbie Fowler rolled back the years to smash a bouncing ball from 25 yards and notch up North Queensland's first win ever in the A-League. Sydney United were the unfortunate side to taste defeat and now sit 3 points behind Gold Coast United, who only managed a 2-2 draw at improving Perth Glory. Brisbane Roar finally made their dominance count with a 3-0 smashing of Newcastle, lifting them to third on the table

Friday, 18 September
Adelaide United v Melbourne Victory

Preview: Big city rivals clash here with Adelaide looking to defy a record that reads one victory against Melbourne in their last 13 meetings. The home team will be feeling confident after retaining the services of some key men in the last few weeks. Captain Travis Dodd and Cassio were welcome additions last week and will be joined by Cornthwaite (returns from susp.) and the fit again Kristian Sarkies. Melbourne has had its worst start in the A-League with only one win in their six games. The loss of Allsopp cannot be understimated but the visitors are hoping that captain, Kevin Muscat, will have recovered from his hamstring tear to bolster Victory's defensive ranks.

Verdict: Both sides are far from peak form so a tight match is highly likely. Melbourne's Costa Rican international, Carlos Hernandez, has been Adelaide's nemesis in recent meetings so he could prove the key for the visitors. He found the next last week with an expertly taken free-kick but tired towards the end of the 90 minutes after having flown back from Central America less that 24hrs before kick off. Jetlag ofcoarse will not be a problem tonight and Carlos will be ready to wreak more misery on Adelaide. Adelaide ofcoarse are still missing the creative influence of Paul Reid and Barbiero in midfield so the absence of Celeski for Melbourne is not too damaging for the visitors. In addition, Melbourne's record against Adelaide, and possibly higher motivation to break a 3-game winless streak brings me to the conclusion that Melbourne can upset Adelaide here.

Pick: Melbourne +0.25 AH @1.87 (ibcbet, 6 units)
Adelaide United 0 - 2 Melbourne Victory

Saturday, 19 September
Central Coast Mariners v Gold Coast United

Preview: Central Coast will look to take down top dogs Gold Coast United this evening and kickstart a season that has been steady, if not spectacular. The Coasters lost 1-0 to Adelaide last week in what was a wonder free-kick by Brazilian Cassio. That was the only shot on goal for Adelaide which goes to show that the defence is doing fine, the problems lie in attack. Gold Coast were held to a 2-2 draw at fast improving Perth, showing alot of character to come back from a first half two goal deficit. Shane Smeltz found himself (again) on the scoresheet and takes his tally for the season to 9 goals from 6 games. On the injury front, Central Coast retain the services of creative midfielder McGlinchey and no nonsense defender, Chris Doig. Gold Coast have a host of selection headaches with keeper Scott Higgins, Piorkowski, Porter, Minniecon, and import Robson all ruled out for this game for one reason or another. In addition, creative midfielder, Zenon Caravella's wife is due to give birth and will play only if necessary. In better news, defender Matthew Osman and former Juventus keeper, Jess Vanstrattan, are included with the latter making his debut in the A-League.

Verdict: Tough game to read here as Mariners aren't really setting the world on fire whereas Gold Coast will reshuffle their pack to compensate for their numerous absentees. It is also worth noting that Gold Coast made the most arduous trip in Australian League football last weekend so it will be interesting to see how they recover. Central Coast have scored a measly 5 goals in 6 games till now, making them the lowest scorers in the league. They have managed only one cleansheet in that period so it will be a tough ask to achieve one against the league's top goalscorers in Gold Coast. After keeping three cleansheets on the trot, the visitors have conceded three in their last two fixtures so cracks are starting to appear. The presence of new keeper, Jess Vanstrattan, will be a welcoming sight for Gold Coast fans but he is lacking match fitness so I expect teething problems in defence.

Pick: Over 2.25 goals @1.95 (ibcbet, 6 units)
Central Coast 3 - 0 Gold Coast United

Sunday, 20 September
Wellington Phoenix v North Queensland

Preview: An intriguing match is in prospect here as the two bottoms do battle at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington. North Queensland caused one of the upsets of the season last week by defeating the more fancied Sydney FC 1-0 with a cracker from Robbie Fowler. Wellington also put in a solid performance away from home, coming from behind to draw 1-1 at Melbourne. The New Zealanders paid a price though, with centre-back Jon McKain suffering a quad injury. North Queensland are boosted by the return of former Rangers man, Scott Wilson, and midfielder Paul Kohler from suspension.

Verdict: North Queensland will look to use last week's first victory of the season as a base from which to build from. A win here and they can see themselves rocketing up atleast two positions on the table. Wellington though are a hard nut to crack on their home turf, having not lost there in their past 8 matches. Ben Sigmund is likely to replace the injured McKain so not too many issues there. Both teams have improved in recent weeks and a draw for both teams is not really an option here - I believe they will be going all out for the three points. The signs are good for goals with Wellington not having kept a cleansheet so far this season whereas North Queensland's games to date have averaged 3.8 goals (highest in the league).

Picks:
Over 2.25 goals @1.85 (ibcbet, 6 units)
Wellington 1 - 1 North Queensland
North Queensland +0.5AH @1.88 (ibcbet, 4 units)
Wellington 1 - 1 North Queensland

Sydney FC v Newcastle Jets

Preview: It will be two teams looking to redeem themselves here after dissapointing results last week. Sydney FC are now the proud holders of an unwanted tag - the first team to be defeated by the North Queensland franchise. The 1-0 loss condemned the Sydneysiders to their second consecutive loss. Newcastle didn't fair any better, suffering their heaviest defeat of the season, a 3-0 loss at home to Brisbane Roar. With Australia's youth team on international duty, selection options for both teams are depleted somewhat. The team most effected is Newcastle as Kantarovski, Rooney, and Hoffman are all unavailable - likewise Danning for Sydney FC. Sydney manager, Viteslav Lavicka, has vowed to ring the changes to change his team's fortunes with former Newcastle boy Stuart Misualik and Mark Bridge likely to get their first starts for the season.

Verdict: With some big fixtures looming, Sydney FC must feel that they need to hit their straps here and what better fixture (historically) to do just that than this one. Sydney have had the edge over today's opponents in the past, winning five of their past six meetings. If that wasn't a bad omen for the visitors, Newcastle manager Branko Culina, has the selection headaches mentioned above plus the injuries to key men Ontong, Wheelhouse, and Topor-Stanley (doubtful) to contend with.

Pick: Sydney FC 1X2 @1.90 (betsson, 6 units)
Sydney 2 - 1 Newcastle