A-League Coaching Heavy Hitters Face-Off

Melbourne Heart die hard fans	Heart's gun striker David Williams was unlucky hitting the cross bar on a scoring attempt

A-League Coaching Heavy Hitters Face-Off

By Mark Humphrey

Aloisi’s Heart took on Popovic’s Wanderers at AAMI Park tonight in cooling conditions that deteriorated as the night went on.

Fans from all parts of the country had come to watch the clash between the relatively new kids on the block.

David and Debbie had travelled down from Newcastle to attend the Melbourne Cup week and decided to catch the local A-League game. Debbie a Jets supporter and David a Mariners man were backing in the Wanderers to take home the chocolates. Although they didn’t back a winner on cup day they did pick up a nice 40/1 win with Smoking Joe on Derby day.

David and Debbie from the New South Wales central coast enjoying the Melbourne experience.

Not far away were Nathan and his family who had travelled down from Sydney to watch their beloved Wanderers take on the Heart. Nathan a football fan all of his life followed Sydney FC until the Wanderers came along. “For me it was a no brainer. As soon as the Wanderers started I was on board”.  Nathan went on to say “the Wanderers ground is 20 minutes away from where I live so it made sense to support them without question”. I asked Nathan how he thought the game would be won. “Basically I think the mid-field and forwards will have a big influence as they are high coming off back to back wins. I think the Heart are not travelling that well and might be a bit flat” he said. He went on to say, “I expect the Wanderers to have around 60% of the match possession”.

Die Hard Wanderers fan Nathan with his family at AAMI Park. Nathan predicted a dominant Wanderers win.

For both groups of travelling New South Welshmen the result certainly looked to favour them.

In front of a pro Melbourne crowd the Melbourne Heart attacked the pitch from the on-set. With Murdocca, Mifsud and Mebrahtu lively up forward it was only a matter of time before the Heart had their first genuine chance to score. Within the first 2 minutes of the match Mebrahtu had a header that went wide and then followed up with a shot on goals that drifted wide after he received a pass from Mifsud.

Heart forward Golgol Mebrahtu attempts a shot on goal with a well directed header

Heart had their first corner inside the first 4 minutes and had dominated the play having complete possession of the ball inside the first 6 minutes of the match. It wasn’t until the 6 ½ minute mark of the match that the Wanderers finally entered their forward zone. Juric had set up a pass to D’Apuzzo for the Wanderers first shot on goal which was easily kept out by Heart’s goalie Andrew Redmayne.Wanderers Adam D'Apuzzo was busy all night.

Wanderers forward Brendon Santalab was looking lively around the goals and opened up the goals with some clever footwork and a cross that had Redmayne scrambling to cover. The Wanderers first genuine strike went wide but signalled their intentions to the Heart defence.

Down the other end Hearts scoring machine David Williams was being productive with some long range shots that kept Wanderers goalie Ante Covic busy. Heart was applying loads of pressure on the Wanderers ball carriers which resulted in the ball being turned over on many occasions. The Melbourne Heart was completely on top in the first 15 minutes of the game attacking the goals on several occasions. A hard running Williams was tackled by Covic as he attempted to score the first goal of the night. This was another definite chance for the Heart to open their account which went begging. Credit had to go to the Wanderers defence who were under enormous pressure during this period and managed to keep the Heart at bay.David Williams tried everything to get the equalizer

Mifsud who was having an excellent game for the Heart managed to penetrate the Wanderers defence having a shot from left of the goals. His shot was slightly off target and struck the side of the net but once again showed that with a bit of luck the Heart may well have been in front. With 25 gone in the match the Melbourne Heart had worked extremely hard and completely dominated possession without hitting the score line.Heart's Michael Mifsud created opportunities all night

Wanderers Shannon Cole knocked down a Juric cross and with some tidy work managed to get past the Heart defence for a shot on goal that found the left hand back corner. With 27 minutes gone in the first half the Wanderers had taken a 1-0 lead against the flow of play but that is what good teams do and that is why the Wanderers finished last year’s  regular season on top.

Immediately the Heart were shooting from long-range and it looked as though some panic had started to infiltrate their game

Several minutes later a perfectly placed Wanderers corner strike was deflected by goalie Redmayne right into the waiting Santalab who’s header from right in front and no more than 4 metres out went high to give the Heart some breathing space. A goal by Santalab would have virtually put the game out of Melbourne’s reach given the weather conditions. Santalab’s miss will certainly go down in the books as a golden opportunity that went begging for the Wanderers.

Still determined to get back in the match the Heart keep on pushing forward and are awarded a free kick just outside the 18 mark. The kick is defended by the Wanderers into the waiting feet of Williams who has a shot just outside of the box. The strike is solid and gets past everyone only to crash into the cross bar. Absolute genuine chance again for the Heart which fails to fall. With a bit of luck the Heart could have had at least 1 goal on the board.

The half time siren goes giving the players a well-earned break in what was a hectic 1^st half with the Wanderers leading 1-0. The game was somewhat scrappy with both teams having multiple chances to score. The Melbourne Heart would no doubt be disappointed as they had the majority of play in the 1^st half only to see the Wanderers knock 1 in.

The second half was virtually a carbon copy of the 1^st. Heart started off with controlling possession and a Wanderers deflection nearly resulted in an own goal barely 5 into the second half.

Both teams had set up scoring opportunities that missed the mark. By now light rain had started to fall making the job even harder for the Heart. Mifsud had worked the ball in the forward zone to get a clear shot on goal that went left. Mifsud was a shining light for Aloisi who by now had started to ring the changes. With a bit more polish and matured skill set Mifsud may well turn out to be an A-League marquee player in future years.

Williams is subbed out at the 64 minute mark as the rain started to get heavier. A strike by Behich at the 70 minute mark is deflected by an outstretched Covic arm to once again deny the Heart.Heart's Aziz Behich created second half opportunities

A perfect Iain Ramsay cross has no support from the Heart forwards which has been the general trend. The forwards work really hard to set up an opportunity only to find the finishing work substandard. The Heart set up numerous opportunities to score but seem to lack the precision of an elite striker to finish off the good work. Whilst Williams and Mebrahtu are very skilled forwards it feels as though they don’t get into the prime scoring positions in the box enough or they don’t have the elite support from other players to finish off their work. One thing is for sure and that is that you cannot fault the teams desire to win the ball and score. It maybe that once the cards fall into place then the Heart will get on a roll that makes them a formidable opponent.

With no second half addition to the score line the Western Sydney Wanderers won their third win on the trot sending them to the top of the table whilst at the other end the Melbourne Heart with 5 losses sit on the bottom.

IMAGES OF HEART

Melbourne Heart Volunteers.

L to R  Stephen Brotherton, Nikoletta Sotiropoulos, Arif Rajaee, Prince Muteyaunga

Captain Robbie Wielaert

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