A-League kiwis over the weekend

Kosta (the artist formerly known as Costa) Barbarouses had his first game relegated to the bench this season for the Brisbane Roar. As luck would have it though a bad fall to Brazilian Henrique saw Kosta come of the bench in the as early as the 6th minute, putting in another all effort display before being replaced in the 59th minute with Briabane behind.

Meanwhile Michael McGlinchey played the full 90 for the Central Coast in a win over Melbourne Heart. McGlinchey spending more time wide which doesn't always underline his talents. Jeremy Brockie also put in another good 90 minutes in a Newcastle side that ran in to an impressive Adelaide side.

The All Whites goalkeepers had mixed fortunes with Glen Moss again started for the Gold Coast and pulled of a number of excellent saves as the Coast travelled to Perth and beat the previously unbeaten Glory. Mark Paston however had to spend the evening in the stands as his Wellington Phoenix teammates beat Sydney FC. Also to the fore were the Phoenix' other kiwi's Tim Brown, Leo Bertos, TOny Lochhead and Ben Sigmund.

Barbarouses Wins It

Kosta Barbarouses enjoyed a special night scoring the only goal in Brisbane's 1 nil win over his old club the Wellington Phoenix. After playing a delicate one-two with Matt Mckay, Barbarouses measued a fine finish into the bottom right corner past an advancting Mark Paston with about 20 minutes left to play at SunCorp Stadium. Barbarouses had a busy evening, sliding across the park constantly in attack and harrying the Phoenix defence at every chance. His game was not without mistakes, but he was dangerous throughout. If he is able to improve his percentages and accuracy to support his instinctive talent he could become a very good player.

It was a deserved win for Brisbane who played the more attractive football and created the best of the chances.

Barbarouses with Point to Make

Kosta Barbarouses has no shortage of motivation when his Brisbane Roar side host the Wellington Phoenix on Friday night. After rarely featuring in Ricki Herbert's Phoenix line up during his time at the club and having been left out of the All Whites World Cup squad by the same manager, Barbarouses will be itching to make a big impact against his former teammates.

Since arriving in Queensland, the Wellingtonian striker has been a key member of Ange Postecoglou's young Brisbane side - a side that has started the new A-League season with a lot of promise, playing a very high tempo, fluid style of football. Barbarouses scored several confidence-boosting goals pre-season, including one against visiting EPL side Everton, and also had a very strong opening season match against Gold Coast United. Last week he was not as prominent, but Brisbane still picked up a very convincing win over champions Sydney FC.

Playing at the point of the attack and preferred so far over Brazillian Heinaldo, Barbarouses has made up for his lack of size with great mobility and workrate. His incisive passing and link play, along with a relentless hounding of opposition defenders has been a feature of his game so far this season. And he will be looking to give Ben Sigmund and Andrew Durante a similarly hard time on Friday.

A good performance will go a long way to securing Barbarouses a spot in the All Whites squad to face Honduras and Paraguay in October.