Friday 12th April 2024

• Wellington Phoenix vs Melbourne Victory
  Sky Stadium
  Kick-off: 19:00 (Kiwi time) / 17:00 (Eastcoast time)
  Ref: Daniel Elder
  Broadcast: Paramount+
• Adelaide United vs Macarthur FC
  Coopers Stadium
  Kick-off: 19:15 (SA time) / 19:45 (Eastcoast time)
  Ref: Ben Abraham
  Broadcast: Paramount+

Saturday 13th April 2024

• Western United vs Central Coast Mariners
  Regional Football Facility Tarneit
  Kick-off: 15:30
  Ref: Jonathan Barreiro
  Broadcast: Paramount+
• Brisbane Roar vs Newcastle Jets
  Suncorp Stadium
  Kick-off: 17:30
  Ref: Adam Kersey
  Broadcast: Paramount+
• Sydney FC vs Western Sydney Wanderers
  Allianz Stadium
  Kick-off: 19:45
  Ref: Alireza Faghani
  Broadcast: 10 Bold / 10 Play / Paramount+

Sunday 14th April 2024

• Melbourne City FC vs Perth Glory
  AAMI Park
  Kick-off 15:00 (Eastcoast time) / 13:00 (WA time)
  Ref: Tim Danaskos
  Broadcast: 10 Bold / 10 Play / Paramount+

Current Table

CURRENT TABLE (APL RULES)										CURRENT TABLE (GLOBAL RULES)
Club	PL	W	D	L	GD	Pts	*			Club	PL	GD	Pts	*
CCM	24	14	4	6	16	46	*			CCM	24	16	46	*
NIX	24	13	7	4	12	46	*			NIX	24	12	46	*
MV	24	10	11	3	12	41	*			MV	24	12	41	*
SFC	24	10	5	9	5	35	*			SFC	24	5	35	*
MAC	24	9	8	7	-2	35	*			MAC	24	-2	35	*
WSW	24	10	4	10	-3	34	*			WSW	24	-3	34	*
MC	24	8	6	10	2	30	*			MC	24	2	30	*
BR	24	8	5	11	-10	29	*			BR	24	-10	29	*
AU	23	8	4	11	1	28				AU	23	1	28
NJ	24	5	9	10	-8	24	*			NJ	24	-8	24	*
WU	23	6	4	13	-17	22				PG	24	-8	22	*
PG	24	5	7	12	-8	22	*			WU	23	-17	22
* denotes clubs who have played additional game

Shaping up to be a fantastic round.
If MV somehow manage to take the 3 points, it completely changes the dynamic for the title race. Just a shame it's 5pm Melbourne time, will just have to settle for audio only in the car for the first half.
AU in good form and Macarthur needing to cement a finals spot.
WU in good form and want to avoid the spoon. CCM need the points as they have a tough 2 weeks ahead of them.
BR still a bit of a longshot to make the finals, but they will definitely be trying.
Sydney Derby with Faghani as the ref will be a good one.
MC must pickup points to have any real chance of making finals. PG will be definitely pushing to avoid the spoon.

Great summary, really looking forward to the the round. I'm hoping that the Roar somehow make it into the top 6, but it's unlikely. I'd also love to see the Mariners win the plate. 

I'm tipping Brisbane to win and wanderers to lose so it's definitely going to be a fight for sixth 

Roar's problem will be that SFC, WSW, MAC and MC are all playing each other over the next few rounds. Which means Roar need to take all 9 points and there needs to be a bunch of draws from the others. They also have to face MV and AU, neither of which will be easy games.
I don't reckon CCM will be premiers. They have 5 games in 14 days, including international travel. Farrell with the Olyroos will definitely be felt.
I reckon if Nix win tonight, they will go on to be premiers. 

Check your tables . CCM is ahead on both wins and gd.

Thanks for the correction. All fixed now.

Question: if vic end up second, ccm 1st and ccm win the afc cup di we get 3 asian spots?

I believe CCM would get direct entry and MVC and SFC (Australia Cup) would both get play-off spots

Cheers. 

Reason to cheer for vuck then

Why are these kiwi commentators at the match but the Aussie ones are in the studio? 

What a finish! Going down to the wire.

Nux players and fans carrying on like they’ve won the Champions League 

Because this is the highest points they have ever been

Sour grapes….much?

I think if CCM win both the plate and the AFC Cup and MVC get 3rd they would get a playoff spot. If WEL win and MVC come second (still a possibility) MVC would get the direct spot.

No. They were lucky at the death with an own goal. Hardly a convincing or well deserved win

Not sure if its indicative of the quality of teams this season but the Nix play quite a defensive style of game this season and find a way to win games.

Either teams cant break their deep block down or just down to luck? They have one of the lowest xGs in the league too.

It reminded me of Western United winning the grand final a couple of seasons where they played a similar style.

Probably a factor of having the salary cap where everyone can beat each other on the day but no one quite dominant in terms of style and results.

Irankunda!

Irankunda is very very special talent, cant believe someone out there didnt want him to play tonight.

Talk about insecurity. 

The XG for the Nix doesn't tell the whole story. The Nix give away a lot of shots from low risk positions, which means the xG against them is quite high just through share number of shots, on the other side the Nix don't take very many shots but the shots they do take are very high quality, therefore the xG on the other side is lower.

It might seem like luck, but it's by design and they've shown consistently across the season that xG isn't always a good representation of how well a team is going.

I'd say this is kind of the opposite of the WU season, WU had a team of seasoned professionals who knew how to close out games, this Nix team is young as is the coach. Most of the team is on long term contracts so while I expect there to be some offers in the offseason I'm hoping the Nix can keep the team together as it will be exciting to see how they grow. They do play cautiously, but when they have to be expansive they look very good, so I'm hoping as they develop they add more attack to their game.  I don't like this doing "just enough to win" stuff, I want to put teams to the sword.

That is one of Irankunda’s problems 

The thing about Irankunda that strikes me is... how he strikes it. I don't recall ever seeing a player come through our ranks in Oz that can just clunk a ball so.... straight.

Just saw the goal from tonight. From that angle , how the fuck does it go so straight? You're always expecting a player to rap their body a bit around that kick and for it to curl away from goal.

That and the power he generates from sidefooting them. Outright blasts the things. Faster than others on an incline kick.

We need him in the NT. The thing he offers is that he just knows when you should shoot fuckin rather than the usual penalty area tiki taka shit

Thank god you're here, I thought he was a positive until you cleared it all up

Very straight, just like his missed penalty.

Such a negative little man you are.

He missed a penalty? fuck m8 sorry, I take back the comments I made about his general technique

Please let me know next time he misses something

Bloody hell that was a finish to a game.

Macarthur down to 10 men, two goals at the death and a missed penalty preventing a draw.

Fantastic strike by Irankunda, and so much more composure on the ball setting up good passes to create as much threat by other players.

I think when Adelaide got the man advantage, and seemed capable of mounting attacks on a whim, they lost a little of their edge and focus. They started shooting on sight rather than using the two and three player options that make their attacks so impressive and make them such a dangerous team. Wasted chances that, as so often happens in football, turned a dominant team into a loss.

Not a bad result for us to have Adelaide's catch up game let us stay ahead - when it did not look very likely any time before the Macarthur goals - but how much intensity does that potentially make for our final game of Roar v Reds if both teams have a shot at the 6 still by then.

Shattering for Adelaide's hopes on the back of some great play.

I have to ask about the penalty though - am I the only one who thought it might have come off the sleeve rather than the arm? So hard for me to tell even watching the 100 replays. Isn't the sleeve considered OK still not to be handball?

You see, the problem I have with this ‘wunderkid’ stuff is that he’s talented but very immature and he sure is not being help by all the gushing by all and sundry. He was in tears again at the end of tonight’s game. I think everyone should lay off, let him go to Germany and hope that the coaching staff there can nurture the mental side of his game as well as the physical side.