Whilst Melbourne Victory’s latest star Keisuke Honda may attract most of the limelight in this Sunday’s Rd 2 A-League encounter between Victory and Perth Glory, you can be sure the Victory fans will reserve a special celebration for one of their longest serving stars, 28-year-old winger Kostas Barbarouses who is set to reach the 100 game milestone for Melbourne Victory in the match against the Glory.

The New Zealand international’s football journey has taken him from New Zealand to Australia, then to Russia and a loan spell with Panathinaikos for which he made 11 appearances before returning to Australia to play for Melbourne Victory in 2013 under Ange Postecoglou, then back to Phoenix before returning to Victory last season. Along the way he has collected three A-League championship winners’ medals, two at Victory and one at Brisbane Roar.

Stung by their opening round defeat to cross town rivals Melbourne City, after leading through a Honda goal, Victory will be determined to maintain their good record against Glory at AAMI Park. Glory dominated their opening round match against Western Sydney Wanderers but had to settle for a draw. Injured key players, Ola Toivonen for Victory and Diego Castro for Glory are doubtful starters for the game. Glory will also be without injured forward Brendan Santalab and an ill Chris Harold. Socceroos defender Matthew Spiranovic looks set to make his debut for Glory, adding some steel at the back.

Central Coast Mariners v Melbourne City, Saturday 27/10 @ 5.35 pm, Gosford 
Mariners’ fans will be hoping former Melbourne City striker Ross McKormack can find the net against his former club and help the Mariners to a first win of the season following last week’s 1-1 draw against Roar. City will be well aware of the threat McKormack presents from dead ball situations. On the Usain Bolt (will he or won’t he sign) front, the Mariners club issued a statement saying that in order to avoid distracting the team’s preparation for A-League matches, Bolt wouldn’t be attending further training sessions until his contract negotiations were resolved. The club went on to say it was unlikely to sign Bolt without the financial contribution of an external third party.

Former South Melbourne utility player Matt Millar has been promoted into the match day squad by Mariners coach Mike Mulvey.

Melbourne City will fancy its chances of back to back wins, given its impressive performance in coming from behind to win against Victory last week. New signings Richie De Laet and Lachlan Wales impressed with their speed, as did Riley McCree with his clinical finishing. They look hard to stop in this game.

Sydney FC v Western Sydney Wanderers, Saturday 27/10 @ 7.50 pm, Sydney Cricket Ground 

The Sydney derby takes centre stage on Saturday evening. These two fierce rivals met recently in an FFA Cup semi-final when the Sky Blues ran out convincing 3-0 winners continuing its dominance of this fixture. WSW fans will be hoping Markus Babel’s men have learnt lessons from that defeat. They’re sure to know of the threat of Sydney’s newest international stars, Siem de Jong and Adam Le Fondre who opened his A-League account by netting the equaliser last week in the match against Adelaide.

With an FFA Cup final to follow just three days later, Sydney FC will be hoping to settle this match early and avoid a war of attrition. They have named young star Daniel De Silva in the match day squad after he missed last week through injury.

Brisbane Roar v Wellington Phoenix, Sunday 28/10 @ 5.00 pm, Suncorp Stadium
Phoenix surprised many with last week’s 2-1 first up win under new coach Mark Rudan against last season’s beaten Grand Finalist Newcastle United. They go into this away match as slight underdogs against a Roar side unlucky not to take all three points against the Mariners last week. Roar striker Adam Taggart scored on debut for his new club and could be the decisive factor in this match up if he can get his shooting radar right. There should be no shortage of opportunities from a creative Roar midfield. Phoenix club stalwart Roy Krishna, needs just one more goal to become Phoenix’s all-time leading scorer.