A League Round 4 - Melbourne vs Central Coast (Sun 16th Sep - 5pm)

[Beejayville]

Melbourne Victory v Central Coast Mariners Date: Sunday September 16 Kick-off (local time): 5.00pm Venue: Telstra Dome Radio coverage: SEN1116 (Melbourne) http://www.sen.com.au/ Click "Listen Live" Head-to-head Six league meetings: Melbourne - 3 wins, Mariners - 2 wins, 1 draw Previous meeting Central Coast 1 Melbourne 2 (Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium, Hyundai A-League round 18, December 2006) Past five results Melbourne: Loss - Loss - Draw - Draw - Draw Central Coast: Loss - Loss - Win - Win - Win The defending Hyundai A-League champion welcomes the Central Coast Mariners to Telstra Dome still searching for its first competitive win of the 2007/08 season after four losses and four draws in eight outings this term. The manner in which Melbourne Victory has began the defence of its crown contrasts with the runaway opening of last season when coach-of-the-year Ernie Merrick guided his side to seven consecutive victories and a nine-point gap at the top of the table. In addition to lying fourth, six points behind this year's early pacesetters, Merrick has the added incentive of protecting that league record when his side attempts to end the Central Coast's 100 per cent start to the season on Sunday. Both sides welcome key players back from national team duty with Dean Heffernan and Archie Thompson, who started the Qantas Socceroos 1-0 defeat to Argentina on Tuesday night, both primed to start. Heffernan might match-up against Australian under-20 international Sebastian Ryall who could continue at right-back in Englishman Joe Keenan's absence with Matthew Kemp at left-back. Keenan, who missed last week's 1-1 draw with Adelaide United, is named in an extended squad but faces a late fitness test on his knee problem with Ljubo Milicevic also sidelined with a knee injury although Steve Pantelidis does return to the first team squad after a corked thigh. Mariners coach Lawrie McKinna can call upon first choice goalkeeper Danny Vukovic after his No.1 kept successive clean sheets for the Qantas Olyroos in their double-header against North Korea and Lebanon. Backup custodian Matthew Trott was among the best performers in the Mariners' 1-0 victory last Thursday but McKinna conceded earlier this week that Trott played through the pain barrier in Brisbane because of a groin strain. The third round was also an eventful one for Victory defender Rodrigo Vargas who headed Melbourne into the lead before conceding the penalty which Travis Dodd converted to steal a point. Vargas was given his marching orders along with captain Kevin Muscat, who will play his 450th top flight match, the last time these sides met at Telstra Dome before a late strike from Daniel Allsopp levelled the scores. Mariners midfielder Greg Owens isn't named in the squad after failing to make the trip to Queensland because of a hamstring complaint.

[Beejayville]

Re: A League Round 4 - Melbourne vs Central Coast (Sun 16th Sep - 5pm) SQUADS Melbourne Victory Squad: 1.Michael THEOKLITOS (gk) 2.Kevin MUSCAT (Captain) 3.Daniel PIORKOWSKI 6.Steve PANTELIDIS 7.Matthew KEMP 8.Grant BREBNER 9.Daniel ALLSOPP 10.Archie THOMPSON 11.Joseph KEENAN 12.Rodrigo VARGAS 13.Kaz PATAFTA 14.Adrian CACERES 15.Leandro LOVE 16.Carlos HERNANDEZ 18.Leigh BROXHAM 20.Eugene GALEKOVIC 21.Sebastian RYALL *two to be omitted In: Steve PANTELIDIS (returns from injury), Archie THOMPSON (return from National Team duty), Joseph KEENAN (returns from injury), Leigh BROXHAM (return from National Team duty). Out: Daniel VASILEVSKI (omitted), Evan BERGER (omitted). Others Unavailable: Ljubo MILICEVIC (knee - 2 weeks) Central Coast Mariners Squad: 1.Matthew TROTT (gk) 2.Matt SIMON 5.Bradley PORTER 6.Andre GUMPRECHT 7.John HUTCHINSON 8.Dean HEFFERNAN 9.Nik MRDJA 10.Tom PONDELJAK 11.Damien BROWN 13.Tony VIDMAR 15.Andrew CLARK 16.Nigel BOOGAARD 17.Matthew OSMAN 19.Adam KWASNIK 20.Danny VUKOVIC (gk) 22.Sasho PETROVSKI 23.Mile JEDINAK 30.Andrew REDMAYNE (gk) *three to be omitted In: Bradley PORTER (Returns from national team duty), Dean HEFFERNAN (Returns from national team duty), Danny VUKOVIC (Returns from national team duty). Out: Nil Others Unavailable: Alex WILKINSON (Knee – Indefinite) Impending stats, facts and trivia A remarkable co-incidence will take place at Telstra Dome with the captains of Melbourne Victory and Central Coast Mariners both set to make their 450th appearance at national league level. The career of Melbourne's Kevin Muscat so far has seen him play at Australian clubs Sunshine (9 league appearances), Heidelberg (18), South Melbourne (73) and Melbourne Victory (40), English sides Crystal Palace (53), Wolverhampton (180) and Millwall (53), and Rangers (23) in Scotland. Tony Vidmar's 449 appearances to date consists of stints at Adelaide City (149 league appearances) in the old NSL, Ekeren (9) in Belgium, NAC Breda (82) in the Netherlands, Scottish giants Rangers (107), English clubs Middlesbrough (12) and Cardiff City (73) plus 17 Hyundai A-League appearances so far with Central Coast Mariners. Muscat and Vidmar are the only current Hyundai A-League players to have made more than 400 appearances at national league level.

[Beejayville]

Re: A League Round 4 - Melbourne vs Central Coast (Sun 16th Sep - 5pm) HEAD 2 HEAD Melbourne Victory P8-W3-L4-D1 (Home: P5-W1-L3-D1)

Dec 31, 06	CC Mariners	1 - 2	Melb. Victory
Nov 3, 06	Melb. Victory	3 - 3	CC Mariners
Sep 17, 06	Melb. Victory	1 - 0	CC Mariners
Jul 29, 06	Melb. Victory	1 - 3	CC Mariners
Jan 27, 06	CC Mariners	3 - 1	Melb. Victory
Nov 18, 05	Melb. Victory	0 - 2	CC Mariners
Sep 30, 05	CC Mariners	1 - 2	Melb. Victory
Aug 12, 05	Melb. Victory	1 - 3	CC Mariners

Central Coast have a 50% win strike over Melbourne and have kicked 3 gaols in a game against them on 4 occasions from eight games. Last season at Telstra Dome was the epic 3-3 draw and it was a great maatch. So the Mariners are definitely a team who are not afraid to take it up to Melbourne. Melbourne's Last 3 games

Sep 07, 07	Draw	Adelaide United	1 - 1	Melb. Victory
Sep 01, 07	Draw	Melb. Victory	0 - 0	Perth Glory
Aug 26, 07	Draw	Wellington Phoenix	2 - 2	Melb. Victory

Central Coast's Last 3 games

Sep 06, 07	Won	Queensland Roar	0 - 1	CC Mariners
Aug 31, 07	Won	CC Mariners	3 - 0	Wellington Phoenix
Aug 24, 07	Won	Sydney FC	0 - 1	CC Mariners

[Beejayville]

Re: A League Round 4 - Melbourne vs Central Coast (Sun 16th Sep - 5pm) SHOTS PER GOAL

	Team	Shots	Goals	Shots per goal		Games	Shots per Game
Total	Melbourne	33	3	11.0		3	11
Total	Central Coast	46	5	9.2		3	15
	Team	Shots	Goals	Shots per goal		Games	Shots per Game
Home	Melbourne	10	0			1	10
Away	Central Coast	24	2	12.0		2	12

Melbourne are having about the same amount of shots as last year, but they are not scoring as many goals now. They averaged a goal every 5 shots last season and were very clinical. The Mariners have had plentu of shots but are only scoring a goal every 9 shots. The Victory defence is fairly strong even though they are not scoring many goals, and you would expect Central Coast to have less shots than they do on average, so they may find it hard to score, or maybe conjur up one goal at least if they can have their 9 shots.

TIMES GOALS SCORED FOR AND AGAINST

	Team	0-15	16-30	31-45	46-60	61-75	76-90
Total	Melbourne Vict	0 - 0	1 - 0	0 - 0	1 - 0	0 - 1	1 - 2
Total	CC Mariners	3 - 0	0 - 0	1 - 0	1 - 0	0 - 0	0 - 0
	Team	0-15	16-30	31-45	46-60	61-75	76-90
Home	Melbourne Vict	0 - 0	0 - 0	0 - 0	0 - 0	0 - 0	0 - 0
Away	CC Mariners	1 - 0	0 - 0	0 - 0	1 - 0	0 - 0	0 - 0

Central Coast have scored 60% of their goals in the first 15 minutes of the game, and the other 40% either side of the main break. Melbourne have conceded all their goals in the last 30 minutes of the game.

[Beejayville]

Re: A League Round 4 - Melbourne vs Central Coast (Sun 16th Sep - 5pm) Should be a ring-a-ding-dinger this game and while Melbourne have been struggling to score as much this season, defensivley they have been very sound. Archie Thompson is back in attack today and he will make a huge difference to their scoring potential. Central Coast have started like a house on fire with Mjdra and Petrovski excellent up front. Coupled with Adam Kwasnik and the resolute Brechampt in midfield, then the Mariners have a formidable look about them. Dean Heffernan down back has been a great inclusion to their side too as he provides plenty of tun out of defence. This has all the earmarks of another A League draw, and a scoreless one at that, but the fact that Central Coast are sitting on top of the league table undefeated and are paying $3-10 then they scream to be backed. Not sure how they can have Melbourne at $2-20 on their form so far this season, they don't even look like scoring in a game, and it won;t be any easier here. I am unable to Asian Bet but Central Coast with a handicap would have to be considered, they are in great form against a team struggling up forward. Central Coast to WIN @$3-10 (Centrebet)

[ads25]

Re: A League Round 4 - Melbourne vs Central Coast (Sun 16th Sep - 5pm) This is one match i wont be betting in, ill just be watching it and should be entertained by what is the game of the year so far. CCM are in awesome form so far with 3 wins from 3, while Melbourne have started the year with 3 draws and have been largely disapointed. Melbourne are an excellent team though and with Archie Thompson back they are sure to be more attacking. They cannot be underestimated, especially with a 30,000+ strong crowd behind them. Bit this is another match where i think a draw looms as the strongest possibility. NO BET

[blackcrow]

Re: A League Round 4 - Melbourne vs Central Coast (Sun 16th Sep - 5pm) Under 2.5 Melbourne have played in 3 draws so far and its a good chance it will happen again. Defensively they are very good while they have been struggling to create while Central Coast have won both their away games 1-0. Can't see many chances happening here considering the way these two teams have been playing but one of these sides may score

[davidmphill]

Re: A League Round 4 - Melbourne vs Central Coast (Sun 16th Sep - 5pm) As with what I have seen I think the same as BeeJay here. The visitors look good value for the win they're bang in form and can claim a fine scalp here for me.

[Beejayville]

Re: A League Round 4 - Melbourne vs Central Coast (Sun 16th Sep - 5pm) FT: Melbourne Victory 0 - 0 Central Coast The Central Coast's winning start to the season has been brought to a halt, with defending Hyundai A-League champion Melbourne Victory becoming the first team in season 2007/08 to take points off the Mariners in a 0-0 draw at Telstra Dome. But Lawrie McKinna's men can hold their heads high, taking a point from a match which was largely dominated by the Victory. Without star striker Nik Mrdja and with Sasho Petrovski injured early in the game, the Mariners worked hard on the counter-attack and could have had all three points with Adam Kwasnik hitting the bar once in each half. They remain top with 10 points from four games. The Victory now has four draws from as many matches. Danny Allsopp and Archie Thompson had dominant games but couldn't master the final touch needed to finish the visitors off, while Mariners keeper Danny Vukovic had an excellent 90 minutes, defying the home side. McKinna was full of praise for Vukovic's performance, with the Mariners now having gone 360 minutes of this season without conceding a goal. Melbourne coach Ernie Merrick was pleased with his side's performance, but was left lamenting lost chances. It was the Victory which looked the more enterprising early in the match, with Allsopp leading the charge. Several times in the first 15 minutes, the big striker beat two defenders to create openings for the Victory, the best of which fell to Thompson who headed over in the 10th minute. Moments earlier, Thompson had put Allsopp through but Vukovic managed to get down low and deflect the shot away with his legs. The visitors' best early chances came from set-pieces, with Michael Theoklitos forced off his line a couple of times to intervene from corners. Up the other end, Mile Jedinak's intervention on Adrian Caceres' cross almost resulted in an own goal. Petrovski hobbled off after just 24 minutes, replaced by Tom Pondeljak, but it didn't deter the Mariners from attacking, with Kwasnik knocking the ball over Rody Vargas' head and then crashing an optimistic shot into the bar on 26 minutes. A poorly-taken Mariners corner created an excellent chance for a Melbourne counter-attack. Thompson intercepted, ran half the field, knocked it to Allsopp who almost returned the pass, only for Vukovic to get to the ball first. It was a similar story but roles reversed soon after, as Allsopp's out-stretched foot failed to reach Thompson's cross. Chances were flowing thick and fast for the Victory late in the half. Kevin Muscat steered his header wide when left unmarked from a corner, while Vargas had a similar chance soon after, but didn't get enough purchase on it to worry Vukovic. The second half started as the first one finished, with the Victory winning a succession of corners, and Vargas unable to find the net, despite getting himself in good position. The relentless attacking pressure told on Damian Brown, who dragged Leigh Broxham down and was booked. The Mariners spent most of their time defending, but did get forward on occasions with Jedinak produced a cracking 30m shot, which forced Theoklitos to parry wide. Vukovic did likewise soon after, knocking Allsopp's well-taken shot around the post. On the hour mark, Daniel Piorkowski was booked for a foul just outside the box, and from the resultant free kick, Kwasnik hit the bar for the second time in the game. The intensity of the match lifted further as the home side squandered a chance with Thompson directing a shot straight at a busy Vukovic. Thompson and Allsopp looked the most likely to break the deadlock, and on 70 minutes, the former broke wide and delivered a cross which Allsopp managed to get his foot on, but the ball dribbled agonisingly wide Theoklitos produced an excellent save from Pondeljak's clever shot to preserve the stalemate, while Matthew Kemp continued to just miss his targets from the multitude of corners he was taking. Leandro Love, who had come on for Carlos Hernandez, produced another solid save from Vukovic on 87 minutes, the Brazilian combining well with Muscat but unable to get the ball past the stoic Mariners custodian. The only late drama was a poor tackle from Tony Vidmar on Thompson, who would have been clear on goal, which saw the veteran red carded. The Victory couldn't do anything with the free kick, with Broxham's shot deflecting off Piorkowski and over the bar. Crowd: 27,351

[Beejayville]

Re: A League Round 4 - Melbourne vs Central Coast (Sun 16th Sep - 5pm) Disappointing crowd of only 27,000 people at Telstra Dome, no doubt due to Melbourne's low scoring this year and the fact they haven't won a game as yet. Central Coast was clearly great value at the Asian Handicap and they almost pulled off the win.