Aloisi Heads Osasuna To An Important Win

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Qantas Socceroo striker John Aloisi, starting his first match in some time, grabbed the only goal, as Osasuna accounted for Atletico Madrid 1-0 in Osasuna. The news wasn’t so good for Aloisi’s Australian team mates Marco Bresciano and Vince Grella in Italy, with Parma going down to AC Milan 3-0.

Qantas Socceroo striker John Aloisi (pictured right), starting his first match in some time, grabbed the only goal, as Osasuna accounted for Atletico Madrid 1-0 in Osasuna. The news wasn-t so good for Aloisi-s Australian team mates Marco Bresciano and Vince Grella in Italy, with Parma going down to AC Milan 3-0.

Coming on top of their 1-0 win over the same team midweek in the Spanish Cup semi final, Aloisi headed home in just the 4th minute of the match, for his fifth goal of the season.

The win lifted Osasuna to 13th position, but more importantly, the three points pushed them further clear of the relegation zone.

Meanwhile, Bresciano (Grella was not in the squad) and his Parma team mates, had no answer to AC who powered to a comfortable win and lifted them to the top of the table. The loss for Parma keeps them well entrenched in the relegation battle.

In England, Tim Cahill and his Everton team mates were unable to back up Wednesday-s 1-0 win over Manchester United, being held to a 1-1 draw at home against Birmingham City. However the point was enough to see them move further clear of their nearest rival Liverpool in the race for the last Champions League qualifying spot. Liverpool lost 1-0 at Crystal Palace to be now four points adrift of Everton, while Bolton Wanderers also missed the opportunity to close the gap on The Toffees after they were held to a 1-1 draw by Aston Villa. Bolton is level with Liverpool.

Wigan Athletic missed the chance to virtually guarantee themselves promotion to the English Premier League, after being held to a 0-0 draw at home with QPR. Wigan-s Australian goalkeeper John Filan signed a new two-year contract with the club during the week.

Wigan remain two points ahead of Ipswich in second spot and need four points from its next two games to win promotion ahead of Ipswich. Wigan though have two very tough games remaining against Preston (4th) and Reading (7th), while Ipswich face 21st place Crewe and are away to Brighton (22nd).