R12 vs Wanderers | Sunday 28th Dec | 7:00pm | RoF

Back from match..WSW really wanted it but didn't know how to win..Nix expected it and nearly didn't know how to win either.  Crowd was great... 

Midfield looks dire without Alex even tho I think he has been slow to fit in..hope he gets back on field soon as without Burns its going to be hard two down.  Whilst he didn't have his best match(again) he still looked lively and created some chances.

Gee we missed A-Rodd today. Great to get 3 points. 2nd half of the season teams like this and Jets etc will be harder to beat now that everybody has had a good look at each other. These 22 points are great.

5 points ahead of Sydney! Nuff said.

Pitch looked decidedly wet in odd place..early on when Burns? crossed from right a whole spray of water came off his boot...Strange.

Just got home and man that was a heart in mouth game. Looking at it we were lucky to get that penalty but I'll take it. I'd love to also see a replay of what happen with La Rocca because where I was it looked like he should have been sent off. 

I actually do think O'Leary had a bad game which is a shame as I went into the game thinking we were going to have a good referee finally but while we got that penalty how WSW didn't see more yellow cards I'll never know.

So will quite happily take the three points, apparently Krishna is out next game with a hamstring tear and WeeMac is a wait and see for Adelaide so think that will make next game a bit harder. Hope we have Alex back.

Oh and also quite happy to point out, once again we are undefeated at home with a Ronald McDonald House family in attendance. 

Nah nah nah nah,

appreciation of play has gone

nah nah nah nah

consummation of death

		P	W	D	L
	Perth Glory	12	9	2	1	10	29
	Melbourne Victory	12	7	4	1	13	25
	Adelaide United	12	7	2	3	9	23
	Wellington Phoenix	12	7	1	4	9	22

Other than first 15 minutes we were below average - some games what you deserve and what you get aren't the same thing - certainly the case tonight. Tonight it we escaped with 3 points.

However still some decent performances: Fenton got forward and added plenty in the front third, Moss, Siggy and Dura held it together at the back and Roly's work rate was immense.

Muscat in for Doyle and Rodriguez for Lia will help - a lot.

God knows how we'll cover for Burns.

WSW is clearly shaking off the cobwebs and they nearly got one over us. Thus could have gone either way.

It's good to have three points from this tough game salted away before a difficult game midweek against Adelaide, away. A number of posters said (optimistically) that Adelaide is beatable at present, and we are up to compete for the third spot. I would say if we manage a draw away against the Reds I'd be ecstatic, they (as well as Perth and Victory) are the pacesetters.

mint 3 points - now the team is even finding a way to win ugly.... Happy days people!

Real arm wrestle of a game and the lads showed enough defensive strength to hold on for a win. WSW are a good team...they are after all Asian CL winners.....they have rested up since the Club Worlds and I always expected for them to be difficult. That is a very good 3 points to pick up...maybe we sat back a little after our early dominance and goal and let them back into the match.

Sure hope Krishna is Ok because we are already thin without Burns. Krishna was getting Physio treatment for a thigh/hammy at half time. I like Brockie but he looks like a square peg in a round hole in Ernies setup. Would much rather see Boyd or even Cunningham next week.

A-Rod will be back soon ...apparently they did not have time to get a protective caste for his injured hand/wrist in time for this game. We missed his covering in behind the fullbacks and the way he breaks up play and constantly feeds Riera. Just shows how valuable his work is when you really miss him.

Would take a point away at Adelaide

My observation is that O'Leary was very careful not to appear as favouring the Nix.

The soft yellow card against Sigmund - how did it compare with the WSW hacking away unpunished?

Every single time.

Moss was a bit punchy today. Not a fan of it.

Yep - I thought there was some very dubious challenges by WSW on us. Including a blatant two handed push to the back... no fouls called.

Moss kept us in the game. Siggie put in some immense work in the first half. Roly had some gorgeous touches.

WSW played some great football mixing it up with high balls and quick on the ground-to the feet passing.  Happy to get the 3 pts and a decent game all round.

Settling for 4th (although i'd ecstatic with that at the end of the season) is silly, In our last 5 games we have 4 wins and 1 draw, we are the form team of the competition. If i was adelaide i'd be really scared of us and although i'd be stoked with a draw, this game is very winable. We are just 1 point off Ade and 3 off Victory. The gap between us and Sydney is bigger than the gap between Sydney and City.

Also in Perth's next 5 games they play victory twice, Adelaide twice and Sydney. We are only 7 points off Perth and i think we can catch them by the end of the season.

Keep up the form and we're in for something special this season! COYN!!!

I thought Doyle had his best game for us

Has fenton in midfield became an option again?

You be crazy man.  

Flying to Adelaide with a short turn around.  No Burns, possibly no Rodriguez, Krishna doubtful.

Adelaide were all over us last time and grabbed a late winner.

Hoping for a draw and then a good showing for our first hit out vs Roar at RoF.

Well we got away with 3 pts there.

In the stadium, no way was it a penalty but I see some people have commented that there was an earlier touch on Krishna. I need to see a replay to be convinced.

We did bloody well to keep a clean sheet in any case - so many corners, free kicks and crosses put us under pressure - Moss was outstanding even if he did punch a few times. Sigmund was great and so was Durante. Roly worked his little butt off in midfield, and Burns was at the heart of most good things.

To be fair to Lia, he did some real good work but spoilt it with a number of dodgy passes.

After the goal, they were the better side, but even then we had chances to finish it through Burns.

I cant imagine what we will do without Krishna and Burns, but I guess its a chance for someone else to step up to the plate.

With Krishna and Burns out is maybe fenton further forward an option? Atleast he's match fit. Tbh i want Boyd to start but obviously it'll be Brocks and Kenny. Unless Lia starts and Weemac is pushed to up front and Roly pushed to 10?

Mate who I was sitting with and was a keeper pointed out that nearly every time WSW had a player on Moss which made it harder and riskier to take a catch than to just punch it. I think Moss actually made the right decisions to punch ball away rather than catch it under pressure.

So what happens next game ? No Krishna ,no Burns ? Kenny running about like a headless chicken ? Hopefully Rodriguez back for Lia who was particularly awful tonight ! The overall depth of the squad will be severely tested in the next few games even a point against Adelaide would be good !

it was great to see lots of people waiting in a queues to buy tickets as I rocked up to the game tonight! It's been a while since I've seen all 3/4 ticket booths 20 deep...

Sorry I haven't read thread, but was that our biggest crowd of season? I was expecting fudge all but was well impressed.

I think it was.  I don't think we've cracked 8k until tonight.

Oh I forgot, it was yet another piss poor penalty by the Nix.

Got away with it but I don't think Krishna is the man for it.

it was the bloody warmest night Ive ever spent at the stadium I think.

not only did we crack 8k because 8600 is closer to 9k, surely it will only go up next game?

The first 20 mins were as good as we have ever been and we did not allow WSW any room or time on the ball.

Heavens knows what happened after that. There was no plan B and we just went into our shells. I think Tony P. had done his homework well and it seemed like a wall of white shirts. On chances created it could have been 6/7 goals in the game and we certainly battled to the end.

A game like this a year or two ago and we would have got hammered.The ref. is the best in the league but both ways he was not at the top of his game.

Regardless of how good a side is (the Nix) you sometimes have to be lucky, and today were were.

Especially when you consider in 2nd half he dropped one he tried to catch and it nearly cost us the lead. Replay showed he got a decent whack from the attacker as he tried to catch it.

Leggy quote: "The ref. is the best in the league but both ways he was not at the top of his game."

Sorry Leggy but O'Leary is generally woeful, arrogant and full of miss guided self importance. 

He's so concerned how he's seen over in Aussie (wants/loves the gigs, airpoints, koru lounge etc) favours Aussie teams.

Must be worried sick awarding that penalty.

#Paston_throwback 

O'Leary reffing always makes me think back to junior football when someones dad would ref and be a little stricter on his kids team to avoid being called out as biased.

I can't comment on the arrogant and the rest, but in my opinion he is the best of a bad bunch. I think he has improved over the last few years as I do remember bagging him a few times.

The problem is that I have the same opinion as you regarding the other refs.

They all seem to think that the game is about them.

I'd also like to say YellowFever was on fire tonight and there was two times in that second half that the chant just naturally extended to the rest of the crowd and it sounded amazing.

Agree. Was bloody awesome to look across the fever zone and into the sitting area and see people clapping along :)

wanting 9k next game. keep it up

Yes and OMG!!! Alf Stamp was the best player I've seen in our national league at the old Hamilton AFC!!!