Western United stays top but City sticks close behind

Western United’s stay in first position is not getting any easier, having needed to record a third successive league win against Perth to retain top spot with their Victorian rivals, Melbourne City, still hot on their tail.

The Green and Black club were largely unchallenged by Glory in the last match of the A-League’s 16th round, protecting their slim lead on top of the ladder.

A pair of late goals saw City and Adelaide United defeat Sydney FC and Central Coast respectively.

Arthur Papas’ Newcastle recorded a draw in their rematch with Macarthur FC since their Boxing Day failure.

Perth Glory-Western United 0-2
The league leaders extended their unbeaten record to seven games with a professional victory over Perth on Sunday evening to keep one point ahead of City.

Former PAOK and current Western marksman Aleksandar Prijovic opened the scoring with a composed finish into the bottom right corner (37’) and winger Dylan Pierias finished off a precise counter-attack to seal the result (56’).

Defender Jonathan Aspropotamitis played the full game for Perth while Jerry Skotadis was substituted in late for the Green and Blacks.

Sydney FC-Melbourne City 1-2
Star winger Mathew Leckie’s late goal helped City steal a win on Saturday night from the distraught Sky Blues.

The current champions scored first after Sydney midfielder Paolo Retre couldn’t stop his momentum while running back to defend, tapping the ball into his own net following a point-blank save by keeper Andrew Redmayne (32’).

The Sydneysiders brought it level after playmaker Milos Ninkovic released a shot from a corner which deflected in off a City player (53’) before Leckie’s powerful low effort from range snicked in off the right post in the dying minutes to gift the visitors all three points (90+1’).

Kosta Barbarouses played 20 minutes after coming on as a sub for Sydney FC.

Sky Blues coach Steve Corica felt terrible for his players who he felt deserved more after dominating much of the play.

“A point probably wouldn’t have been deserved, I thought we were the better team but we’ve ended up with nothing…It’s disappointing for everyone and I’m very frustrated because we needed to win today,” Mr Corica said post-match.

Newcastle Jets-Macarthur FC 2-2
The Jets came from behind twice against the Bulls in an improved performance after their horrific loss to the same team on Boxing Day when they lost despite being a goal and a man ahead.

Macarthur centre-half Tomislav Uskok managed a header from a corner to put his side ahead (21’) but it was soon cancelled out by a penalty from Newcastle striker Beka Mikeltadze (33’).

The Bulls went ahead again on the hour mark courtesy of a magnificent volley from outside of the box by midfielder Thomas Oar.

The Novocastrians pressed for another equaliser which they found via a headed own-goal from defender Liam Rose (79’).

Macarthur fielded Apostolos Giannou in the starting lineup while the Jets brought on midfielder Kosta Grozos from the bench.

Jets manager Arthur Papas praised the “positive character” shown by his side to come back but felt they are capable of better results.

“(There are) still areas I thought that if we can do a little better, we should come away with a bit more than what the game has been as an outcome point of view … we need to be more clinical because the game could be finished already if we take our chances,” Mr Papas said post-match.

Adelaide United-Central Coast 2-1
Adelaide produced another late surge to down the Mariners in dramatic fashion.

Reds’ forward Craig Goodwin fluffed a golden chance to take the lead after his penalty was saved by Mark Birighitti (25’) and the Gosford side capitalised through a tidy finish by winger Beni Nkolo (35’).

The South Australians came out firing in the second half with striker Hiroshi Ibusuki hitting the back of the net after a scramble in the box (52’). They scored again in the dying minutes, this time through a bullet strike from 16-year-old substitute Nestory Irankunda (90+2’).

♦ Two matches were postponed due to severe rainfall: Brisbane Roar-Melbourne Victory and Western Sydney-Wellington Phoenix.