In the opening round of the 2011/12 Hyundai A-League season Melbourne Heart FC suffered a gut-wrenching 3-2 loss after succumbing to a last gasp goal from new Newcastle defender Sung-Hwan Byun.
In the opening round of the 2011/12 Hyundai A-League season Melbourne Heart FC suffered a gut-wrenching 3-2 loss after succumbing to a last gasp goal from new Newcastle defender Sung-Hwan Byun.
Heart took the lead in the first-half with a goal from Mate Dugandzic before two goals from Ryan Griffiths had Newcastle 2-1 up at half-time.
Recently appointed Melbourne Heart captain Fred provided a brilliant ball to set-up Dugandzic for his second and the equaliser just after the break but Byun netted a deflected strike in injury-time to deny Heart a deserved point.
The loss was only Heart’s second in the A-League this year but they are winless in the competition in over 280 days.
It was also only the second ever time Heart have conceded a goal in second half injury-time, the other coming against Perth Glory at AAMI Park last season.
Heart will now be looking to getting the three points on Sunday afternoon when they play their first home match of the season against, coincidentally, Perth Glory.
Record vs Glory:
Melbourne Heart have never lost to Perth Glory in the A-League, but have also never beaten them.
All three matches between these two sides last season finished in draws.
The first was a controversial 2-2 draw at AAMI Park, the second was a 0-0 draw at nib Stadium whilst the most recent was a 1-1 draw at the same venue in January.
In that game Alex Terra scored one of the greatest goals in A-League history, with a stunning bicycle kick on 70 minutes to level the scores.
Between the sticks:
Melbourne Heart will be without Clint Bolton once again this week as he recovers from a groin injury.
Last Saturday’s match against Newcastle was the first time any goalkeeper other than Bolton has played for Heart in the A-League.
In goals was Nikola Roganovic, a 25-year-old goalkeeper who signed from the Green Gully Cavaliers in the Victorian Premier League.
Roganovic has been a part of the winning side in the past four VPL Grand Finals – two for Altona Magic and two for Green Gully.
The keeper also holds the record for the longest period without conceding a goal in the VPL, when he kept the ball out of his net for a total of 680 minutes in the 2011 season.
Accuracy:
In the three times Heart and Glory have played in the A-League, Heart have had a total of 50 shots on goal. 21 of those hit the target, meaning Heart have an average shooting accuracy of 42% against the Glory.
Out of the 21 shots only two went into the back of the net for a conversion rate of 4% from total shots taken.
Heart will need to be more accurate this Sunday if they are to defeat the Glory for the first time.
Random stat:
No club who has gone on to win the A-League has ever lost on the opening day of the season.
Time for Heart to break that trend!
Get down to AAMI Park on Sunday afternoon to support Melbourne Heart in their first home game of the season against Perth Glory. Kick-off is 5pm.
