Roar 2 v CCM 1: Champaign football

The Roar were fantastic. CCM not so good.

Again Central Coast pressed hard in the opening minutes but soon ran out of ideas and steam. Again Mitch Nichols scored out of the blue. This time all the hard work was done by Massimo, and we thought he had scored until we saw the replay after the game.

It is amazing that Lawry McKinna cannot design a team that has Adrian Caceres in its starting line-up. When he came on late in the game he created the goal and set the potential for several others. But the CCM front line where not good enough.

CCM just don't look like the team that beat the Roar 2-4 early in the season. Matt Simon had a poor game, and from ground level looked quite thuggish rather than the stylish presence we became used to in the first half of the season and earned his Socceroos call up. John Hutchinson had some good touches of the ball. But loss his temper far too easily and with O'Grady and Simon was lucky not pick up a second yellow card. At half time, Hutchinson could be seen arguing with McKay, then Miller (from the bench) and then the referee - but his dangerous two feet off the ground tackle went unpunished. Even play his role in the CCM goal, Simon hacked down Miller off the ball. Reddy will also be disappointed with his save attempt.

At half time McKinna subbed Clarke, who looked strong and made some critical plays in the first half, and MacAllister, for (the Newcastle bound) Petrovski and Mrjda. And it paid immediate dividends for the Roar. The Roar put together some of the best football I have seen them play. And the their short passing inter-play to release McKay for his goal was the pick of the game.

Van Dijk didn't have his best game, along with the Roar speedsters he struggled on the slippery wet surface. Cernek had a good first start and will improve his finish in front of goal. He was subbed for Miller and we got to see Miller with Mitch. Tonight Miller looked under-done and maybe in pain. Mitch looked great.

The surprise of the night was the short term deal that saw Henrique (Andrade Silva) join the Roar on loan from Brazil as cover for Reinaldo. He came on for Mitch Nichols and got himself in the six yard box with a shot on goal with his first touch. The Roar were searching him out from that point - incredibly fast and playing across the park. He had several chances including an unselfish pass into Van Dijk - who couldn't finish, and a runaway from deep in Roar territory - O'Grady escaping punishment for dragging Henrique down by the shoulder.

Zullo had a great game, standing up Porter, and tonight running into the box.

Moore was brilliant. And his jet lag free performance included some great tackling that stopped CCM advances.

The Roar looked brilliant. Their short ball game was fantastic. Where was this early in the game.

The wet - which only opened up after the game - held the Roar to 23,000. But the atmosphere was fantastic.

Time to Roar

This is another big moment for the Roar as a club.

The disappointments at home at the start of the season, punched through by the 2-4 loss to the Mariners, robbed them of a crowd. Yet on their day the Roar are now up there with Melbourne - the best the A-League has.

The build up for this game has been low key. It is competing directly with cricket - for a game where only Australian crickets demise has made interest in a series against New Zealand.

Still the Roar must shine.

May the threats of violence from John Hutchinson be heard only by the ref.

Japan 0 v Socceroos 0: Coach Pim

Coach Pim has shown himself to be the zen of football. He calmed Australia. Told them to expect a tough match. Then when to Japan and calmly asked why the blue samurai were training behind closed doors. We where told Australia's defences were critically depleted, and yet Grella and Chipperfield, and Moore were at their best.

Japan had the chances to win, yet their skills shone everywhere except goal bound. Coach Pim had worked his magic, again.

John Hutchinson turns FFA informant

In order to save his flagging career, John Hutchinson has dobbed in his teammates, saying that they are preparing to have 'two, three or four' of their players kicking unspecified Roar targets on Friday night.

Buoyed by the favourable referring treatment Central Coast received last last and disappointed by their lack of footballing skills, the Mariners have vowed to step up their thuggery. Sasa Petrovski's tackle from behind that broken Matt McKay's nose is being held up as a heroic act. Also celebrated is Nic Mrjda's ability to split Andy Packer's lip with a swinging elbow and still win a free kick.

However, Hutchinson scared by his two match suspension for elbowing Melbourne Victory skipper off the ball and worried by FFA's ruthless pursuit of Danny Tiatto, has decided to clear his name by rat-ing on his team mates...

Or is this his way of promoting football?

Jon McKain

At the start of the season Jon McKain was looking to come home to Brisbane. Based in Romania, he had played for the Strikers and for Frank Farina in the Socceroos.

Unfortunately, the Roar couldn't find a place for him. So he was given an opportunity for Wellington, probably by fellow Brisbane boy Karl Dodd who had also made his way back from Romania.

Jon played a key leadership role for Wellington both in defence and it the holding midfield role.

Recently, Jon said his aim was to get Wellington to the finals before deciding his next move. He still seems to hold out hopes of a return to Brisbane, although a return overseas is now also possible.

I wonder if the Roar will have a holding mid-field vacancy next year? Aggressive without aggression?

Respects

Thoughts and best wishes to all families struggling with our land of fire and water.

Details of FFA's commitments here.

Adelaide 0 v Melbourne 2: Tiatto strategy backfires

From the kick-off it looked like the OgMan was employing the strategy Adelaide used against the Roar at the end of last season. In his sights was hardman Muscat. The strategy, get some early cheat shots in, fire him up and get him on a card. But Muscat is also smart man and serves revenge cold or gets the ref to - ask John Hutchinson. It almost backfired straight away with Sasa Ognenovski diving in feet first and getting a card in the first few minutes.

As it turned the Victory were too good even with Adelaide dominating possession.

Sasa was lucky to escape a red. And we can see why Pim has encouraged him to go play for Macedonia.