The Wellington Phoenix are at the bottom of the A-League table but, unlike years past, this New Zealand team are still right in touch. And they have former winners Sydney FC for company.
The Central Coast Mariners have taken a flyer. The Lawrie McKinna-coached, Gosford-based team are the
only team to have won a game in version three of the Hyundai A-League and, against all predictions, are already four points clear.
They helped themselves into that position by following their week-one upset 1-0 win over Sydney with a handy 3-0 home win over Ricki Herbert's Phoenix.
Ahead 2-0 after just 13 minutes following bad defensive lapses, and 3-0 after 34 minutes when Nik Mrdja scored his second, the Mariners simply coasted home and then watched as the remaining three games ended in draws.
A slightly disappointing crowd of just 9052 turned up at Bluetongue Stadium. Only the first round 8500 who watched Perth Glory play out a scoreless draw with Newcastle Jets has been smaller.
Hot favourites and defending champions Melbourne Victory are still looking for their first win after their 2-2 away draw and a 0-0 draw at home against Perth Glory.
The match, refereed by New Zealand's Peter O'Leary, was played in front of a massive crowd of 31,545 at the Telstra Dome. Victory picked up their second point against a Perth side who had two players, including All White midfielder Leo Bertos, booked.
Like the Phoenix, Sydney fell behind early as Richie Alagich gave visitors Adelaide the ninth minute lead at the Sydney Football Stadium. That lead was short-lived however as Ufak Talay had Sydney back to 1-1 within four minutes. Alex Brosque gave the home team the lead in the 74th minute but again the reply was only a couple of minutes in coming as Nathan Burns grabbed the equaliser.
Newcastle needed a Joel Griffiths goal three minutes from time to snatch their point in a 1-1 draw with Queensland Roar who finished the game a player short after Stuart McLaren's dismissal. Reinaldo had given the visitors the lead in the 71st minute.
The Phoenix are at home to Newcastle on Sunday aware a win would put them back in the thick of it. In conceding just one goal, the Jets have made a solid start. Only Perth and Central Coast have done better defensively.
