The numbers that matter
The big winners of Round 20
Given there were only two winners for the entire weekend, there isn't a lot of choice on offer without getting creative. But irrespective of that, it surely has to go to the Central Coast Mariners again.
The Mariners have been through a terribly tumultuous season off the pitch, unexpectedly losing Championship-winning manager Mark Jackson for an overseas gig in October and then having the entire future of the club and the academy thrown into doubt when their licence to operate was forfeited back to the A-League.
Moon wasn't able to bring about an immediate transformation on the pitch, losing six of his first ten games in charge (W2, D2), but he knew precisely what the club needed to advance up the standings: competition for places on the pitch.
He recruited shrewedly during the January transfer window and has been rewarded with five wins in the new calendar year, seeing off top-six rivals such as Brisbane Roar (2-1), Western Sydney Wanderers (3-2) and Macarthur FC (3-1) to soar from the bottom of the table into sixth position.
Moon has been careful not to talk up top-six chances as you'll see below, but all clubs below the Mariners have been in terrible form for at least a month now, so they're very rapidly and solidly firming up as a finals contender.
The big losers of Round 20
It wasn't a loss as such, but what a missed opportunity Saturday night was for Melbourne Victory to collect a third consecutive away victory and join Adelaide United on 31 points.
It would have left them in fourth position, which grants an enormous advantage of hosting rights for the single-leg elimination against fifth place, so the "five minutes of madness" in which the Victory conceded twice to Sydney could prove to be costly.
Arthur Diles' side have conceded an equaliser in each of their five ongoing games without defeat (W2, D3), lending weight to the argument that the three draws in that period are points lost rather than gained.
That makes it six games without a clean sheet since the remarkable 4-0 Australia Day win over the Sky Blues, which again points out just how much home advantage could mean in the postseason.
Team of the Week
Read more about our Round 20 Team of the Week here.
Goal of the Week
Juan Mata appears to be going viral overseas almost every week now, and this free kick described by opposing manager Ufuk Talay as "world-class" was no exception.
What the managers said
Steve Corica (Auckland FC): "We definitely should have wrapped it up in the first half when we had a few good opportunities. We just kept pushing but it didn't fall for us. We have to win next week (against Newcastle) if there's any title chance. We'll give it a good crack, but we believe we can go there and win."
Adam Griffiths (Perth Glory): "To come to Auckland and go toe-to-toe with them, and put in the fight and composure we did was a good positive to take away. I'm not thinking we don't have to improve - we have to improve in multiple areas, and we will. To have the desire and the hunger to go toe-to-toe with Auckland, especially here as it is such a long trip for us, was a credit to the players."
Airton Andrioli (Adelaide United): "Everybody is asking why (we can't beat Wellington). Sometimes you can't know why in football. I know that they are a very good team on their day. When they are defending that deep they're very difficult to break down. I can't put my finger on. It's going to be hard now, but we'll just have to regroup and go again next week."
Click here to read comments from all managers who spoke at the weekend.
Next week's fixtures
