A-League minor premiership title to the wire

The race for the A-League minor premiership will go down to the wire with Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory set to fight it out in next Sunday's blockbuster match at the Sydney Football Stadium.

Sydney's 3-2 win over Perth Glory at Parramatta Stadium on Sunday, and Gold Coast United's 1-0 loss at home to Wellington has left a two-horse race for a top-of-the-table finish and guaranteed Asian Champions League qualification.

A win for Sydney will see them finish the home-and-away season in top spot, while a draw would be enough for the Victory to claim a record third minor premiership.

Striker John Aloisi, Sydney's two-goal hero on Sunday, said it was a match he and his teammates had been dreaming about all season.

"It's a massive game," Aloisi said.

"We knew that today (against Perth) was the big game because if we only got a point, next week wouldn't count for much, we would have been playing for third place.

"But now next week's going to be even bigger.

"We're expecting a huge crowd and there's everything to play for.

"We can't wait, this is what every footballer wants, to play a big game and next week will be a huge one for us."

Gold Coast can still hope for a two-two finish, which guarentees a double chance in the finals, if they win their final-round match against North Queensland and Melbourne beat Sydney.

The rest of the finals contenders will be simply jostling for position after the top six was settled over the weekend.

Adelaide's 2-0 win over Brisbane on Saturday meant the Roar could not reach the top six, leaving the Phoenix, Glory and Newcastle safe in the knowledge they will be playing finals football.

North Queensland's hopes were killed off in a 2-0 defeat to the Victory on Friday night while the Mariners, whose home match against the Jets on Saturday was rained out and rescheduled for Monday night, are also out of contention.

Meanwhile, Gold Coast United chairman Clive Palmer has until the end of Monday to explain comments he made last week following the suspension of Steve Pantelidis.

Palmer has been asked to explain his comments by Football Federation of Australia (FFA) after he accused the governing body of corruption and not wanting his club to host the grand final.

- AAP