Melbourne’s Thompson scores but Gold Coast’s Smeltz still runaway leader

Melbourne Victory's Archie Thompson scored on the weekend but Gold Coast's Shane Smeltz still holds a commanding lead in the race for the A-League’s Golden Boot.

Thompson, the A-League’s all-time leading scorer, finished a swift move by the Victory in just the fifth minute of the clash against Perth Glory on Saturday night to set up a 6-2 win for the reigning champions, which took his season tally to nine goals and his first in five outings but finds himself ten behind Smeltz who almost has the award wrapped up. Teammate Carlos Hernandez also got on the scoresheet to move to eight goals and set up a contest with Thompson to take out the Victory’s goalscoring title.

In the same match, Perth’s Mile Sterjovksi showed his class with a superb second-half left-footed finish to go to seven goals whilst Wellington Phoenix’s Paul Ifill grabbed his ninth on Friday night against the North Queensland Fury with a neat finish.

2009/10 A-League leading goalscorers table – Round 23
19 - Shane SMELTZ (Gold Coast United)
10 - Sergio VAN DIJK (Brisbane Roar)
9 - Robbie FOWLER (North Queensland Fury), Paul IFILL (Wellington Phoenix), Archie THOMPSON (Melbourne Victory)
8 - Carlos HERNANDEZ (Melbourne Victory)
7 - Mile STERJOVSKI (Perth Glory)
6 - Mark BRIDGE (Sydney FC), Michael BRIDGES (Newcastle Jets), Alex BROSQUE (Sydney FC), Steve CORICA (Sydney FC), Matt SIMON (Central Coast Mariners), Matt THOMPSON (Newcastle Jets)
5 - John ALOISI (Sydney FC), Tim BROWN (Wellington Phoenix), Dyron DAAL (North Queensland Fury), Chris GREENACRE (Wellington Phoenix), Labinot HALITI (Newcastle Jets), Branko JELIC (Perth Glory), Nik MRDJA (Central Coast Mariners), REINALDO (Brisbane Roar)