Peak A-League Men highlights: Referee knockout and painful save stand out in round one

Joshua Thomas

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Peak A-League Men highlights: Referee knockout and painful save stand out in round one image

After another painfully long pre-season, the A-League Men (ALM) returned with a bang over the weekend. 

Only five of six games were played in round one with the F3 Derby postponed due to terrential rain in Gosford. 

But despite having one less match to watch there was still plenty going on. 

The Sporting News takes a look at the peak A-League Men moments you may have missed from round one.  

Referee knocked down in breathtaking Big Blue 

The marquee match of round one was undoubtedly Sydney FC taking on Melbourne Victory at Allianz Stadium.

Despite the rain, over 20,000 fans turned up to watch an enthralling contest that saw Victory claim a dramatic 3-2 win. 

MORE: How to watch every ALM game this season | ALM top goal scorers for 2022/23

It was match that was hard to look away from with referee Chris Beath and Sky Blues defender Rhyan Grant at one stage colliding as they got distracted by the contest. 

A hit bigger than most you'd see in the NRL left both prone on the ground for some time before they managed to find their feet and shake away any hard feelings. 

Pitch turned into swimming pool

Prior to the Big Blue, the F3 Derby was meant to have taken place on Saturday afternoon only for heavy rain to leave the pitch unplayable.

Photos of the ground showed just how water-logged the pitch became as both teams were denied the chance to kick off the new season for another week. 

Wellington Phoenix goalkeeper makes a painful save

Despite playing with 10 for much of their match against Adelaide United, Wellington Phoenix were moments away from snatching a 1-0 win at home on Sunday. 

The Reds finished the game strongly however and Nix goalkeeper Oli Sail was forced into a save that struck him square in a rather private area. 

Despite the sacrifice, Wellington would go on to concede from the subsequent corner in injury-time as the match ended 1-1. 

Talk about painful...

Another Toure debuts for Adelaide

Musa Toure became the third Toure brother to play for Adelaide United in the space of as many years during Sunday's 1-1 draw with Wellington. 

Al Hassan Toure was the first to debut for the Reds in 2019 and he was followed by Mohamed a year later. 

With his older brothers having moved on from Adelaide after strong starts, Musa will be hoping to be another success story for the family and has now already graced the ALM at the age of 16. 

Reddy still ready to star at 41

As the competition welcomed another young talent, a much older star was showing he's still got it. 

Perth Glory's 41-year-old goalkeeper Liam Reddy proved age is just a number as he impressed in a 1-0 defeat to Western Sydney Wanderers on Sunday. 

Reddy made five saves throughout the match which included a brilliant penalty stop in the dying minutes to keep his club in the contest and they were unlucky not to find a late equaliser in the aftermath. 

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Joshua Thomas

Joshua Thomas Photo

Josh has been covering sport for nearly a decade now having fallen in love with football at a young age. A UTS graduate, Josh has previously worked for GOAL and now covers football closely for The Sporting News.