A-League Men: Late drama, derby stalemate mark season’s opening round

Key points

Auckland FC, Wellington Phoenix and Macarthur FC all won their opening A-League matches. Riley Bidois scored a late winner as Wellington beat Melbourne Victory 2-1 in their 20th-anniversary season opener.
Auckland beat Melbourne City 3-1, with Lachlan Bayliss scoring twice on debut. Central Coast and Newcastle drew 2-2, and Sydney FC and Western Sydney were held to a goalless draw.
Sydney FC coach Patrick Kisnorbo and Wanderers coach Ufuk Talay both said the derby was a scrappy contest.

A-League Men: Late drama, derby stalemate mark season’s opening round — Photo: Neos Kosmos

7d· Published 20 Oct 2026· 1 min readSport

#Football #OpeningRound #SeasonOpener #CentralCoast #Sydney

Get local alerts + the full feed in the AU Now app

Alerts, Shorts and your saved stories — free on Google Play.

Get the app

Continue reading · Neos Kosmos

Disclaimer

This is an AI-generated summary based on reporting by Neos Kosmos. It may not reflect every detail of the original story exactly. Tap “Continue reading” above for the full, original article.