Tonight sees the playing of the sixth Melbourne derby, with Heart currently leading their older neighbours two wins to Victory’s one and two draws. Around 27,000 are expected to be at AAMI Park for the match between the consistently poor Victory and the out of form Heart.
Heart suffered a setback this week when head coach John vant’ Schip advised that he would leaving at the end of the season. John van t’ Schip’s record on the field hasn’t been overly spectacular, but the foundations he has set for the future of the franchise are hard to criticize. His young squad will be looking to send him off in style and another derby win would be a great way to start.
Victory meanwhile go into the match on the back of yet another late let-down, this time in the mid-week Regional Round fixture against Gold Coast United in Tasmania. Once again, Victory took the lead only to see their former defender Michael Thwaite level the scores in the last minute with his first ever goal as a pro. Victory need to win tonight in order to keep their season alive – a defeat will see them eight points behind Heart, and they are already three points outside the top six.
Elsewhere, the Mariners – already a massive 10 points clear at the top of the league – will take on Ange Postecoglou’s Brisbane Roar. The Mariners could welcome new signing John Sutton. The tall English striker (brother of former EPL star Chris Sutton) arrives on loan from Scottish Premier League side Hearts to replace Matt Simon. Roar, apparently untouchable for so long, have now lost the aura of indestructibility and the Mariners will be confident of extending their unbeaten run to 16 games.
Sunday’s games see Sydney take on the Newcastle Jets in a battle for the final Finals place. Gary van Edmond has got his Jets team playing a close passing game that appears to improve with each week – heading toward the business end of the season he will be hoping that a place in the finals will give his side a real shot at Glory.
Perth Glory play Gold Coast in the last game of the weekend. Gold Coast continue to prop-up the table but without the threat of relegation, they can relax in the knowledge that their young side contains attacking talent like James Brown, Chris Harold and Ben Halloran.
Glory are the opposite. They are getting results and heading for the finals, but with one of the oldest squad’s in the league and very little promise for the future.
