A-League regular season set for thrilling finish

Heading into the last round of the regular A-League season, 4 teams are locked on 31 points at the top of the table. Those teams are Queensland Roar, Sydney FC, Central Coast Mariners & Newcastle Jets. They have all secured the 4 play-off spots. But there's still the matter of the minor premiership (before the play-off series) - any of the 4 teams can win it. Remarkable!

Well, Newcastle beat Perth 2-1 last evening to move to 34 points with a goal difference of +4. This evening, Central Coast have beaten Wellington 2-0, & also move to 34 points with a goal difference of +5. So, Newcastle & Central Coast have played their last match in the regular season. Central Coast will finish ahead of Newcastle because of a better goal difference. Tomorrow, Sydney play Melbourne & Adelaide play Queensland. Sydney & Qld are the only teams that can finish ahead of Central Coast (albeit on goal difference), & both must win their matches to do that.

Qld & Sydney played each other last week at Suncorp Stadium & the result was 0-0. Qld dominated Sydney in an entertaining match, but was unable to score. Sydney themselves had a couple of chances to score when Qld gave possession away, but Qld's keeper made good saves. Nevertheless, for Qld Roar, the goalless draw with Sydney was a far better display than the loss to Melbourne. It should mean that Qld can approach the Adelaide match with a positive frame of mind. Arrggh, but if only Qld had beaten Sydney last week, then they would only need a draw against Adelaide tomorrow......

Currently, Qld's goal difference is +6 while Sydney's goal difference is +4. This suggests that Qld are in pole position heading to tomorrow's match. Maybe, but Adelaide away is a tough assignment. An Adelaide player said they want to finish the season on a high, so Qld Roar will certainly not enjoy a smooth ride. Sydney play at home tomorrow, but their opponents are their arch-rivals Melbourne, who surely will not lie down easily. I hope that match will end in anything other than a Sydney win, so that Qld can clinch the minor premiership with a win (by any margin) against Adelaide. A win by 1-goal margin (be it 1-0 or 2-1) will definitely take Qld Roar above both Central Coast & Newcastle. Whether that will be enough to finish in front of Sydney will depend on how Sydney fare against Melbourne. So, come on Qld Roar. You can do it!! Let's take the minor premiership, & then get on with the play-off series!