A-Leagues 21/22, The Other Matches Thread

Western open the scoring. 1-1 on aggregate, game on! 

Davidson made to look a bit of a chump there. Nice cross though.

Dude’s scored two knockout goals. A bit like Klose for Germany- tournament specialist.

Brimmer nails a free kick, 1-1 on the night, 2-1 on aggregate. 

I thought that was a clear penalty before, enough to overturn the initial decision. What do you guys reckon? 

Fink

I thought that was a clear penalty before, enough to overturn the initial decision. What do you guys reckon? 

Was surprised King didn't award it on second look. 90% of the time they do.

And we are back square again.

Fantastic finish by Prijović, 1-2 (2-2)

Wales has Western heading to the Grand Final atm, 1-3 (2-3)

Beautiful lay off from Prijovic. Talk about a man for the big occasions: three goals and an assist!

It's really saying something that I want the Victory to win this. Anyone but Western United, please!

This is a great game! Love those home/away affairs with aggregate scores. Just adds to the intensity.

But man, remember the days when a regular season match between 2 Melbourne teams would draw 40k? I wonder where 10k + Victory fans have disappeared to, to not bother showing up anymore. Very strange.

YoungHe.\rt

It's really saying something that I want the Victory to win this. Anyone but Western United, please!

Sighs and slumped shoulders all round at APL. Will be even less people at the ground for the final than are there tonight.

Oh come on how are there nearly 4 extra minutes?

DWH with the final blow, 1-4 (2-4)

Dear God no.
If City get past Adelaide they'll only sell out half the ground 😭

Incredible game! Lovin these two legged semi finals.

Good on them, they defended well, had a striker in top form and deserved the win. 

Alex King won't be popular with the MV faithful though. 

Great match, congrats WU. The best 2 teams need to be in the final Western are one of them no doubt. They proved it tonight.

Bitter though when they make a GF in their 3rd season. We haven't managed it in 15...

Yep definitely some striker envy. Ben Waine must envy Wensel-Halls and Lachy Wales having someone like that to play off. Hooper wasn’t quite there as he had been. 
How would Waine (and Old for that matter) rate compared to those two do you think?

Haven't watched enough of them to judge it. I do agree we need a good striker though. Hooper promised a lot but didn't work out (Injuries, fitness, slow etc)

Result means Rojas can leave earlier for AWs camp in Spain. And that ain't a bad thing since he hasn't been involved in the setup for 2.5 years. 

Hay will be pleased

coochiee

Result means Rojas can leave earlier for AWs camp in Spain. And that ain't a bad thing since he hasn't been involved in the setup for 2.5 years. 

Hay will be pleased

Unfortunately Rojas was missing in action in this game.

City v Adelaide about to kick off. Hopefully Adelaide can get up.

coochiee

Result means Rojas can leave earlier for AWs camp in Spain. And that ain't a bad thing since he hasn't been involved in the setup for 2.5 years. 

Hay will be pleased

 
Wasn’t an AWs camp per se, but he was at the pre-Olympic camp last year at St Kent’s. So worked with Hay/Bazeley, and players like Payne, Ingham, Champness (possibly, not 100% sure), Lewis, Waine, Rogerson (and also Singh and Stensness, what could’ve been…). Still not much, but helps a little to get to know the deal.

That's a cheeky chip from Clough to put the Reds into the lead. 

Stooping Tilio header makes it 1-1.

Off to extra time. Been a good contest so far. Pity the ground is only a quarter full.

Maclaren whacks it in from close range to make it 2-1.

City boss the last 15 minutes brilliantly and take the game 2-1. Probably the better team overall but the Reds ran them close.

Not a Grand Final match up that will get the pulses racing.

C'mon City

God, a final between two teams I couldn't despise more, and Western take the lead inside 2 minutes... 🤦‍♂️

Early goal should put some spark in the game. Hope so: the thought of watching the whole final only for WU to win from an own goal would be hard to swallow.

An og and now some kind of weird rebound/falcon makes it 2-0. Top class stuff.

Outpost

An og and now some kind of weird rebound/falcon makes it 2-0. Top class stuff.

Lucky but they deserve the lead. 

Makes for an interesting second half. The big lad up front whose name I can’t spell causing trouble again. Always liked Wales and Paine. 

So what’s the deal with Kilkenny? We thought he was basically a Carl Rackerman-esque borderline fascist based on his number or something? 

Cos if he’s not, or the evidence trail is thin, I have to like him as a player I’ve decided. It’s a big old fashioned to have a competitive nutter who throws in tackles with an amazing engine in midfield. I’ve basically hated him forever, but now just wish we had a player like him.

Aloisi ain’t Rudan. He’s also a good guy and his brother was the first Nix captain. 

It also makes our loss look better if they can hold on or even get more on the counter. 

Big questions for City.

Can they beat Young at least twice in 25 minutes?

martinb

Can they beat Young at least twice in 25 minutes?

Apart from hitting the bar they haven't really looked likely. Lots of long shots and speculators which are usually the sign of desperation and/or a good opposition defence.

Outpost

martinb

Can they beat Young at least twice in 25 minutes?

Apart from hitting the bar they haven't really looked likely. Lots of long shots and speculators which are usually the sign of desperation and/or a good opposition defence.

 
Old, Ball, Piscopo and McGarry looking good by comparison for sure…

Well that was a let down all round. But well done John Aloisi. He's done a tremendous job of fashioning a not very exciting team into a grand final winner.

Should also have a very positive effect out west of Melbourne and win them more fans. Might even half fill a stadium when it's finally built in about five years time.