Five things we learned from A-League Round 4

Racial abuse, marquee magic and crowd struggles dominated what was a rather eventful Remembrance Round of A-League football.

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No place in football

An entertaining 2-2 draw between Western Sydney Wanderers and Brisbane Roar was momentarily marred on Saturday night.

On a weekend intended to respect and commemorate the lives lost during times of conflict, one fan saw it appropriate to resurrect racial abuse.

Roar goalkeeper Jamie Young, who boasted five saves, including one from the penalty spot, was on the receiving end of a “monkey” slur from a fan, ironically, belonging to the culturally diverse Wanderers contingent.

Born to a Scottish father and Sri Lankan mother, Young fired back at the fan and before long the fan was ejected from the ground.

With the governing body’s banning process said to be underway, the incident is the latest in Young’s travelled career.

“I have experienced that enough in my career… certain people have lost their lives through racism,” the 33-year-old said.

“In society these days we have moved on from that sort of thing but unfortunately this happened.” 

Fingers crossed it’s for the last time.

The Honda A-League

It’s just all too easy for him, isn’t it?

Keisuke Honda’s class was on show yet again in Sunday’s 4-1 win over the Central Coast Mariners.

The Japan legend scored the opening goal of the match and was central to every Victory foray forward as Kevin Muscat’s men moved up to fourth place on the ladder.

With two goals and three assists, a direct involvement in every match thus far, the 32-year-old is quickly firming his grip on the Johnny Warren Medal, albeit early.

Whatever the former CSKA Moscow and AC Milan star has lost in pace, he’s made up for in composure, skill and creativity.

And if Victory fans thought having him in their midst was a treat, welcoming Sweden striker Ola Toivonen back into their squad might as well be the cherry on top.

The 32-year-old had an assist off the bench in a brief second-half cameo and will likely slot straight into the starting line-up for Melbourne’s crunch clash with Sydney FC after the international break.

Popa do preach

It’s taken Tony Popovic four games to remind the Australian public why he was once the most sought-after coach in the country.

A brief but berated spell in Turkey with Karabukspor has now been replaced by a Perth Glory side perched on top of the A-League ladder.

Sunday’s dominant 2-0 win away to Adelaide United extended the club’s unbeaten start to the season and, according to Popovic, it’s only the beginning.

“You win three games in a row, you have to be delighted,” he said.

“Now we have just got to keep moving on. We have got momentum now.

“We want that to continue… anything else won’t be good enough.”

The Glory will next face the Central Coast Mariners at home on November 25, needing a win to achieve their best ever start to an A-League season through five games.

Capacity crowd…

Melbourne City returned to winning ways on Friday night with a deserved 2-0 victory over Wellington Phoenix.

Sensational strikes from Ritchie De Laet and Bruno Fornaroli brought AAMI Park’s capacity crowd to their feet, before the large majority stretched out their wings and flew away.

Beneath the overwhelming distraction of seagulls stood a paltry City attendance of just 6,410, an alarming drop from the 12,086 that turned out to witness last week’s defeat to Sydney FC.

In what was just their second home game of the season, City’s below-average turnout highlights their near decade-long struggle to appeal to a Melbourne market already dominated by close neighbours Victory.

With little point of difference between the two clubs, perhaps the incoming FFA board should use this as a reason to diversify their areas of expansion in order to avoid further cannibalisation.

Just some food for thought…

Two points lost

Sydney FC maintained their unbeaten start to the season on Saturday night, but their 1-1 draw with the Newcastle Jets will surely feel like a loss.

The Sky Blues barraged the home side for the entirety of the first half but only had Alex Brosque’s 20th-minute header to show for it.

And with time winding down, Nick Cowburn made them pay; burying his near-post header beyond Andrew Redmayne and leaving Sydney coach Steve Corica far from pleased.

“To concede a goal late in the game, which we dominated… it’s a frustrating finish,” Corica said after the match.

“It’s two points definitely lost.”

The defending Premiers surrendered top spot as a result of the draw and will now regroup following a relentless schedule featuring three matches in a week.