Giannou bags his first A-League goal in Macarthur’s 4-1 rout of Adelaide

A host of Greek-Australians left their mark on this weekend’s A-League action with goals, assists and returns.

Western Utd and Melbourne City are still neck and neck after the completion of the A-League’s 15th round, both earning wins over Western Sydney and Arthur Papas’ Newcastle side respectively, while a logjam has formed just behind them with five clubs on 18 points.

Apostolos Giannou scored his first goal for Macarthur, contributing to an important victory over Adelaide.

Chris Ikonomidis provided an excellent assist to help Victory to a late success against Central Coast.

Kosta Barbarouses made his much-anticipated return for Sydney though they were held to a stalemate by Wellington.

Former Panathinaikos and current Perth Glory frontman Bruno Fornaroli guided his side to a win over Brisbane Roar for their first three points in a month.

Western United-Western Sydney 3-2

Stellar displays from marksman Aleksander Prijovic (one goal, two assists) and left back Ben Garuccio (two goals) sealed the win over the Wanderers on Sunday evening to keep them one point ahead of City.

Prijovic opened the scoring with a lob over keeper Daniel Margush (27’) which was followed by Garuccio’s low driven shot into the bottom left corner (45+2’).

Western Sydney got one back via a penalty from Tomer Hemed (51’) before Garuccio stunned everyone with a remarkable scorpion kick (goal-of-the-season contender) to restore the two-goal advantage.

Midfielder Steven Ugarkovic managed a late consolation (86’), but the Green and Black club held on to go five matches unbeaten.

Western Sydney featured Terry Antonis, Dimitri Petratos and James Troisi in their starting lineup.

Perth Glory-Brisbane Roar 2-0

A brace from Bruno Fornaroli saw Perth over the line against the Roar to leave the Queenslanders on the bottom of the table.

Fornaroli got his first early after burying his penalty down the middle (8’) and he guaranteed the victory with a finish close to the penalty spot (73’).

Melbourne Victory-Central Coast 1-0

Chris Ikonomidis’ fantastic assist had Victory returning to winning ways as the Mariners were consigned to another loss to the Melburnians.

The match looked destined for a draw when the Greek-Australian winger delivered a perfect cross for teammate Nishan Velupillay who headed it in on the stroke of full time (90+4’).

Victory manager Tony Popovic was pleased with the influence of his substitutes on the game, especially considering they were forced to make some due to injury.

“They all made an impact … .We tried to manage that (injury-forced changes) the best we can to still allow the players to make an impact and, fortunately for us, they clearly did,” Mr Popovic said post-match.

Wellington Phoenix-Sydney FC 1-1

The Phoenix and Sky Blues shared the points in a tight affair on Saturday night which saw star forward Kosta Barbarouses play his first A-league match this season.

The New Zealanders struck first after a strong effort into the bottom right by forward David Ball (43’).

The Sydney club brought it even thanks to some excellent team play which striker Bobo finished off with a composed low volley (67’).

Kosta Barbarouses played the last 15 minutes of the game although was he unable to have an impact on the game.

Sydney FC coach Steve Corica praised his team’s chance making and the opponent’s keeper, Oliver Sail, but stressed the need to convert their goalscoring opportunities.

“I’m pretty sure the keeper (Sail) would have got man of the match because we kept coming, which was very positive, and the way we went about creating chances was fantastic. A little bit more composure in front of goal and we win that game and take the three points,” Mr Corica said after the game.

Macarthur FC-Adelaide United 4-1

Macarthur ended their poor run of form in supreme fashion, blowing Adelaide away.

The Reds scored first after winger Craig Goodwin hit the bottom right corner on his weaker right foot (20’) though this was cancelled out after some good team play led to striker Apostolos Giannou’s first A-League goal (43’).

Adelaide defender George Timotheou gave away a penalty which Joe Gauci saved, though Craig Noone’s second effort from the rebound deflected in to give the Bulls the lead (67’).

Macarthur then bagged another two goals through a well-guided first time shot from former Red Al Hassan Toure (73’) and forward Michael Ruhs (90+1’).

Melbourne City-Newcastle Jets 3-0

City produced a solid performance against Newcastle on Friday evening to stay one point behind first.

Top scorer Jamie Maclaren’s expert volley (45+2’) gave the reigning premiers the lead on the stroke of half time and winger Mathew Leckie doubled their lead early into the second (52’).

Jets defender Taylor Regan was sent off two minutes later for a second yellow and City capitalised with a third and final goal from advancing right back Carl Jenkinson (64’).

Savvas Siatravanis and Kosta Grozos came on as subs for Newcastle.