Page 8 - Mark Milligan News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

After the best A-League season ever, we need a finals series to match A Set the default text size A Set large text size Replay A Set the default text size A Set large text size Leave it to Melbourne Victory to sign off on one of the most remarkable A-League premiership campaigns of all time with a dramatic last-second equaliser in the derby. A 95th-minute equaliser from Lleyton Brooks might have been largely inconsequential in the grand scheme of things to everyone but Victory fans, but it summed up a genuinely thrilling and often chaotic A-League regular season campaign.

Five teams are confirmed as Finals Series contenders after an eight-game Matchweek 23 offered up a rollercoaster of emotions for sides in and around the top six. Premiers Melbourne City and reigning Champions Sydney FC were joined by Brisbane Roar, Central Coast Mariners and Macarthur FC in the five sealed spots in the top six as Perth Glory and Western Sydney Wanderers bowed out of the Finals Series race.

THERE are two moments from early in the career of Mark Milligan that tell you a lot about why he has been such an influential player for club and country for so long, and why his imminent retirement is significant. Almost exactly 15 years ago, Milligan emerged from a parked jumbo jet at Sydney Airport to be unveiled as the surprise inclusion in Guus Hiddink’s Socceroos squad for the 2006 World Cup. At 20, and after just a handful of games in the NSL and the A-League, he looked a little unsure about the fuss being made.

Macarthur FC have taken a big step towards locking in an inaugural A-League finals berth with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Western United.

A 2-1 victory has brought Macarthur FC within spitting distance of a finals berth and all but extinguished Western’s top-six hopes.